Accepted
by livesonwisteria
Summary: How much difference can one little decision make? The Dursleys accept Harry's Hogwarts letter, leading to a whole load of events. Ravenclaw! Harry Good! Draco
1. The Letter

July 18th 1991

July 18th 1991

Harry finished frying up the bacon, eggs, sausages, tomatoes and bread for his uncle, aunt and cousin, who, to be honest, really didn't need this much food. His cousin, Dudley had been told that he was nearly 8 stone overweight last time he was at the doctors, his last trip to the dentist hadn't been much better either.

He turned around and served it to his relatives, hoping he would be lucky and get some. He still felt slightly ill from the lack of food after the snake incident. Harry just wanted to forget about 'the snake incident' as he had dubbed it. Nothing good had came out of talking to a exotic snake in a zoo, then watching the glass vanish and Dudley appear in its place. He had had to have a month in his cupboard for that, and, hadn't been given much food at all. A slice of dry bread and an apple a day was the most he had gotten, thinking about it made his stomach rumble.

He stood there for a while hopeful of leftovers, and daydreaming.

"Boy," Uncle Vernon bellowed, startling Harry out of his fantasy.

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," replied Harry.

"Well, these dishes aren't going to clean themselves," scowled his uncle. "Get a move on,"

Thankfully, his relatives got up and went out of the kitchen, Dudley grabbing a few bars of chocolate, even though he had just eaten, and headed in the direction of the living room, most likely to sit in the front of the Television.

He took this as an opportunity to survey what they had left. He broke out in a grin, realizing that although Dudley and Vernon had left nothing save a few crumbs, Petunia had left nearly all of her breakfast. Before anybody could come back in, and see what he was doing, he grabbed what was left – two sausages, three rashers of bacon and a slice of bread. He rammed half down his throat, then realized he would need a drink, and reached for a spare glass of orange juice. He finished off his little meal, then started washing the dishes.

When he was nearly finished, Petunia came back into the kitchen, holding a bit of paper.

"Here," she said, handing him the bit of paper. "It's your chores for the day, make sure they're done by dinner time, or you won't be getting any,"

Harry put the last of the dishes away, then looked down at the list, wandering what he would have to do today. It was a pretty average list of chores for him – weed the garden, clean the toilets, hoover the downstairs, make lunch, dust, including the ornaments and water the plants.

He started on his chores, heading out to the shed to grab a watering can so that he could water the plants, the easiest of his chores by far, even if there were a lot of plants.

When he was dusting the living room, he glanced at the clock, and was shocked to find that it was already half past eleven. The Dursleys liked their lunch promptly at noon, so now it meant he only had half an hour to make something. He threw the duster back in the drawer, and tried frantically to think of what they wanted for todays meal. He grabbed the list, reading it once more to see if that gave any hints, thankfully, it simply said that the wanted pizza. He grabbed a few out of the freezer and placed them in the oven, before rushing back to the living room to complete the dusting.

When his relatives came in for lunch, Petunia took in the array of pizzas, salad and drinks with a nod and allowed Harry to have two slices to the dismay of Dudley. _Like two slices is really going to make a difference when there's six pizzas, Dudley. _

He sat down at the empty seat next to his aunt, and gratefully savoured the warm delicious slice of pizza, biting off the oozing cheese and chicken, before reaching for another. By the time he had finished his first slice, Dudley had finished his first pizza, something that Harry could tell his aunt wasn't to pleased about. _Dudley's eating habits are really getting to her, took her long enough though. _

As he was in the middle of his second slice of chicken pizza, they all heard the post pushed through the letter box. _That's a bit late. _Uncle Vernon was mumbling something about ruddy postmen, while chewing on some pizza. _Not a pretty sight. _

"Get the post, dear," Aunt Petunia told Dudley.

"Make Harry get it," scowled Dudley, glaring at Harry.

"Go get it," said Uncle Vernon with a warning look.

Harry got up and headed to the front door where he bent over and grabbed the pile of letters. There was one that looked rather strange, the envelope looked quite old, and whoever had sent it had written in green, and added a strange picture with different animals. When he'd had a closer look, he was shocked to realize that it was addressed to him.

"What's taking so long," yelled Dudley, who wasn't a very patient person.

Harry walked back into the kitchen with 'his' letter in one hand, and a pile of letters in his other hand. He gave the pile of the letters to Petunia, and was given a weird look at the letter he still held.

"It's addressed to me," explained Harry.

Eyebrows were raised around the table, after all Harry had just about never gotten a letter in his life.

"Pass it here, Harry," ordered Petunia.

He gave it to her and then sat down, wondering why, as she saw the strange picture with the animals on, she looked so shocked and angry.

"What is it," asked Harry, desperate to know what had affected Petunia so badly.

She shot him a glare, then said "Dudley, Vernon, leave the room,"

Dudley and Vernon both scowled, simultaneously saying 'What?'

"Just trust me Vernon, this isn't something your going to want to hear," she explained.

They both got up, clearly not very impressed and left the kitchen. Harry was shocked, and realized that this clearly must be something important.

Petunia turned to look at Harry, with an unreadable expression. She appeared to be deep in thought obviously this was worrying her, and she also didn't know what to say. _It's not every day you tell your nephew he's a wizard_.

"Harry," she started. "I'm going to be blunt about this. You're a wizard," Harry's look turned to one of absolute shock.

"What, how didn't I know any of this before?" he asked.

"Your mother and father were both magical, they were killed by an evil wizard, and that's when you am to live with us. I'm sure someone else can give you the details. They put your name down for a magical school the day you were born, of course I won't object to you going, in fact, I think it is a rather good idea. I imagine this is probably quite a shock, but, I didn't think it was wise to tell you until you got the letter," explained Petunia.

"Um… wow," stammered Harry, clearly still in awe. "I think I'd definitely like to go,"

Petunia nodded. "I had thought as much," she replied. "Take a look at your letter, it's got a list of what you'll need to bring, except the obvious stuff like clothes and toiletries. You'll need to go somewhere that sells wizarding objects, I can't take you since I don't know where it is, so, it's most likely that someone from the school will take you,"

"Thanks, Aunt Petunia," he said with a grin.

"Oh, and one last thing, Vernon and Dudley are just going to be told that you're going to a normal boarding school. I see no point in telling them, and making unnecessary fuss," she added.

Harry nodded, and thanked her once more, then Petunia left Harry in peace to read his letter. He pulled the ribbon that was wrapped around the letter and unfolded it, eager to find out what awaited him. He scanned the letter excitedly, taking in its contents -

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress.

_Woah. They want me to send an owl!?_


	2. The Teacher

It had been two days now since Harry had received his Hogwarts letter, and he was desperate to know more

_A/N: Just a short chapter, they will get longer though. Next chapter is Diagon Alley with Hermione, possibly in two parts. Things will start getting more exciting!_

July 20th 1991

It had been two days now since Harry had received his Hogwarts letter, and he was desperate to know more. He had been shocked to discover that Aunt Petunia had knowledge of a magical world, although of course not as shocked as he had been to discover that he was also part of that magical world. The letter had given him next to no knowledge about the magical world, so, he was of course bursting with questions; however, when he asked Aunt Petunia anything about magic, she simply either ignored him, or just told him to wait until he met somebody magical, and they would tell him then.

He was still treated the same by Dudley and Uncle Vernon, so he supposed that his Aunt had chosen not to inform them about the magical school he was going to. _I guess you might have to keep magic a secret, and it's probably a good thing Aunt Petunia hasn't told Dudley, he would probably get very jealous and try to come to Hogwarts too. _However, his Aunt normally talked to him a bit, although a lot of it was complaining, and gave him chores. Now, over the past few days, she had been almost completely ignoring him. _The good part about that is that if Aunt Petunia is ignoring me, she won't give me any chores. _

HPHPHP

31st July 1991

Harry woke up to the sound of his uncle rapping on his bedroom door, asking him to come downstairs to make breakfast. This was something his Aunt used to do, but she was for some reason still ignoring Harry.

_I really don't know why Aunt Petunia's ignoring me, but, it's only been since I got my Hogwarts letter and discovered that I am a wizard. Maybe it's because of that; could she be jealous? It would be weird if she was._

He opened his eyes, sat up and looked around his new bedroom. The Dursleys had allowed him to have the guest room when the his Hogwarts letter came, saying that he was too big for his cupboard. He had expected to get the smallest bedroom in the house, Dudley's second bedroom containing everything he had discarded, either because he had grown bored of it, or he had broken it. Uncle Vernon, however, didn't think this was such a good idea, and, was worried about Dudley having a major tantrum

Looking around, he spotted his blue shirt on the floor, and grabbed it along with a pair of tracksuit pants and put them on. He headed to the bathroom, tripping over a toy gun Dudley had left on the floor on his way back. Making his way down the stairs, he wondered what his day would be like.

_I don't think that it's likely that Aunt Petunia's going to start talking to me again, after all, I've seen her hold a grudge for seven years, so she's hardly going to stop ignoring me after two days. Dudley and Uncle Vernon have been pretty much treating me the same, but, I can tell they think something's happening. I wish I could just get to Hogwarts now. _

As he thought this, he walked into the kitchen, where Dudley was already sitting.

"Hi, Dudley," said Harry. _I'm going to make an effort with Dudley, I don't want him thinking I'm an evil wizard who's going to kill him when the secret gets out. _

"…Hi," said Dudley, sounding shocked that Harry was talking to him quite normally. "Are you making breakfast?"

_Trust Dudley to think about food. _"Yes, bacon sandwiches," replied Harry.

Opening the fridge, he searched around for the bacon, and then threw it in the frying pan with some olive oil. One it was cooked, he got some bread, made bacon sandwiches, and handed one to Dudley, and then got two plates and put a sandwich on each for his Aunt and Uncle when they came down. Finally, he grabbed some food and sat down opposite Dudley.

They ate in silence until Dudley murmured something about the bacon being good, and Harry murmured that he agreed. They continued eating in silence, Dudley taking the occasional swig of cola, Harry taking a sip of orange juice. The silence was rather abruptly broken, though, when there was a loud knocking at the door.

The two boys simultaneously jumped up. They exchanged a glance.

"It's alright Dudley, I can get it," said Harry.

Dudley nodded and sat back down.

Harry walked to the door, straightening his hair before he opened it. The woman standing before him was wearing a long purple, star covered floor length dress with long sleeves, it certainly wasn't the sort of thing that Aunt Petunia would wear.

"Mr Potter, I presume?" asked the woman. _She sounds a bit strict, I wonder why she's here; it might have something to do with Hogwarts._

He nodded. "Are you in charge of Hogwarts?" asked Harry with a smile.

She smiled; this was a rare occurrence, although of course, Harry did not yet know this. "No, Mr Potter, I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house, and I also teach transfiguration," she explained.

"Um, sorry but I don't know what Gryffindor or transfiguration is," he replied rather sheepishly, whilst looking at his shoes.

"Well, I didn't expect you to, after all, you are muggle raised," said Professor McGonagall, but it didn't sound like she was telling the complete truth. "Well, to the matter at hand, Mr Potter. I'm here to take you to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies."


	3. The Discoveries

**Previously, on Accepted:-**

_Harry walked to the door, straightening his hair before he opened it. The woman standing before him was wearing a long purple, star covered floor length dress with long sleeves. Mr Potter, I am Professor McGonagall, but, to the matter at hand, Mr Potter, I'm here to take you to Diagon Alley to get your school supplies,"_

Harry was completely giddy with excitement at finally being able to find out more about the magical world. There was also a great chance, he realized, that he would be going into the actual wizarding world and would meet real wizards and witches, you couldn't exactly get wands, owls or cauldrons in Surrey's shopping centre.

"Wow, Diagon Alley that sounds so cool. How are we getting there? When are we going? Who's going?" asked Harry rather excitedly, blushing as he worried that his new teacher would think him an idiot.

Her eyes sparkled. "Mr Potter, you remind me of someone, your father in fact," she told him. "But I'm finding it a bit cold out here, can I come in and have a seat?"

Harry looked horrified, how could he have left her at the door and forgotten to invite Professor McGonagall. "O…o…o…of course," stammered Harry. "I'm sorry, take a seat, Professor,"

He lead her through into the dining room, as both the living room and the kitchen were currently occupied by a Dursley.

"Before we leave, I have a few things to tell you, they are things most of our world know, and they are about you, Mr Potter, however, I can't imagine you'll have found about them from your aunt and uncle. Now, what knowledge do you have of the magical world?" she asked, while looking down at him through oval glasses.

Harry thought for a while. "Well, there's a school called Hogwarts which I'm going to, it starts on the 1st of September, and, um… I think that's it," he told her.

Professor McGonagall's eyebrows shot up, she was clearly shocked at this. "This is all you know of your world? Do you have any knowledge of your parents?" she asked.

"Sorry, but that's all I know, I found it out from the letter, Aunt Petunia said to ask somebody magical if I asked her any questions. The only thing about my parents I know is that they were killed in a car crash when they were drunk, but, the only thing about that is, since I found out I was a wizard, I was doubtful about them dying a car accident, because there's a chance their wizards also and I didn't think wizards could die in car crashes," he paused for breath and looked up at the deputy headmistress, as though scared she would tell him off for doubting his Aunt and Uncle, however the opposite was true, as he saw the look of shock on his teachers face that he had gotten quite accustomed to seeing by now.

"Harry," she started, in a gentler tone than before. "Your parents were called Lily and James Potter, I taught them and had the pleasure of knowing them. They were most certainly not drunks," she continued, her lip curling upwards in disgust at what the muggles had told Harry. "Lily was beautiful, with bright red hair and eyes exactly like yours. She was top of many of her classes, as well as having lots of friends from all the houses. James had lots of friends as well, he was incredibly loyal. He was very good at transfiguration, which is what I teach and he was also good at the wizarding sport we have at Hogwarts, Quidditch. He played for his house team." She paused.

Harry gave her a sad smile. "Wow, they sounded great, I wish they hadn't died in that car accident," said Harry.

"Well, you see Harry that's the thing," explained Professor McGonagall. "Your parents most certainly did not die in a car accident, in fact I doubt your father's even been in one. When you were born, You Know Who-"

"But I don't know who," interrupted Harry, as he was rather confused at why she wasn't using his real name.

Professor McGonagall sighed, and then began again. "Very well, Mr Potter, You Know Who is a name for… Voldemort. When you say the name, we are reminded of the terrible times he inflicted upon us. He was very powerful around the time you were born, and decided to go after you, for reasons I do not know. You parents went into hiding with you," she paused, and Harry swore he could see her eyes watering. "However, their whereabouts was betrayed to You Know Who, he came to your house in Godric's Hollow a few weeks after your first birthday, and…and… he killed your parents, Harry. But, then, he went to kill you, casting the killing curse straight at you. It reflected straight back at him, you survived and banished Voldemort, making you incredibly very famous, and are known as The Boy Who Lived, saviour of our world," she finished.

Harry was shocked, and speechless for a moment, before saying "But how is it a killing curse, if it didn't kill me?" he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

She sighed, and then said "But that's just it though Harry, nobody knows - the killing curse has always killed the people it's been cast at, you're the only exception. It's why the world which you don't know anything about regards you so highly," she told him.

"Thank you for telling me, Professor," thanked Harry with a grave look. "I'm really interested in finding out more about the wizarding world,"

She smiled again. "And you will be able to do so even better Mr Potter, once we get there, we just have to pick a muggleborn up so she can also get her school supplies. I thought it was best to discuss these things in private. Be warned, though, everybody will know you because of your fame. We're going to walk to the end of the street, then I'll apparate you to Hermione's house, either I or another head of house take muggleborns and muggle raised children to Diagon Alley, as their parents won't know where it is. Apparating is a type of wizarding travel, it lets you disappear from one place, and appear in another place. Come on then," she explained, and then stood up as she finished.

Harry stood up as well and followed her to the door, when she paused. "I had better tell your relatives that I'm taking you, I wouldn't want them to worry," she realized.

"Oh, don't worry about them, they won't care," Harry pointed out.

Professor McGonagall looked slightly worried about this statement, but chose to make no comment, instead wondering into the living room where Uncle Vernon was sat in front of the television, and informing him where they were going. Harry heard this met with a grunt, and wondered why she hadn't just believed him that they wouldn't care.

Harry opened the front door as Professor McGonagall emerged from the living room, muttering something about 'horrible muggles'. They walked out the door together and down the street, when they got to the end of the street, she grabbed his hand and they reappeared in front of a posh looking Victorian house in the suburbs.


	4. The Break In

Previously, on Accepted:-Previously, on Accepted:- _Harry opened the front door as Professor McGonagall emerged from the living room, muttering something about 'horrible muggles'. They walked out the door together and down the street, when they got to the end of the street, she grabbed his hand and they reappeared in front of a posh looking Victorian house in the suburbs._

Harry stumbled, and attempted to regain his balance after the apparition, unfortunately he wasn't so successful, and he fell onto the cold, hard pavement below him. McGonagall gasped, and bent down to grab him and pull him back up to a standing position.

"What was that?" gasped Harry.

"That, Mr Potter, was what we wizards call apparition, it's a way of getting from one place to another instantly, however, most people don't react that well to it the first time they do it. That is what happened to you. There are however, other types of wizarding travel. Now, we are at the muggleborn's house, a girl called Hermione Granger, her parents are muggles so they can't take her to get her school supplies, which is why I am. She has already been informed of her magic, so I imagine that she will be waiting for us. Come now," she explained, before briskly strolling up the vast drive to the stained glass front door.

Harry was quick to follow, he was eager to meet Hermione Granger. _She'll be just like me, because she'll be starting from the start in this world, except of course, she won't be famous like me. _He stood beside Professor McGonagall as she rapped twice on the door and waited for an answer rather patiently. The house seemed very quiet, and Harry wondered if there was anybody in.

After a few minutes, Professor McGonagall had started to look impatient, and after five minutes, she was looking rather annoyed that no one had answered. Honestly, these muggles, they can't even answer a door. I can tell that Hermione is here, because I can sense a strong magical presence, I think I'll just have to come in unexpectedly," she explained. With that, she pointed her wand at the door and said in a clear voice 'Alohomora'. _I wonder what that did. _

"That was a spell that unlocks things, useful if you lose your keys a lot," said McGonagall with a smile. They walked into the house, and Professor McGonagall stopped in the hall after closing the door behind her, and held her wand in front of her again.

"What spell are you going to use now?" asked Harry, enthusiastically, the novelty of magic still hadn't worn off.

"I am going to use a locomoter charm to determine the location of Hermione. My wand will then lead us to her," she explained in her broad Scottish accent. "There will be a bright silver light in her direction, we'll both follow it."

"Great," beamed Harry.

McGonagall cleared her throat, then pointed her wand in front of her and said 'Locomoter Hermione Granger." A few moments later, a silver light erupted from her wand and headed in the direction of a door in the front of them, they followed it and then discovered that that door lead to a small conservatory, which had access to the rather vast garden. The silver light lead them to a reasonably sized pool in which a girl, who Harry supposed must be Hermione, was swimming in, clad in a bright pink one piece.

Harry stayed back next to the door, while Professor McGonagall walked up to the pool, and stood at the edge, quite near to Hermione. "Hem, hem," she said, clearing her throat, this caused Hermione to gasp in shock, then quickly swim over to the edge with wide eyes.

"Who…who are you?" asked Hermione, shocked that a woman she had never seen before was standing in her garden.

"Miss Granger, I assume you were told of your magic?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes, a woman called Molly Weasley came to explain it to us, are you a witch?" asked Hermione, looking up at the professor and attempting not to blush. She would rather her second encounter with magical people hadn't been with her looking up at the witch, while clinging to the side of a pool.

"I most certainly am, Miss Granger, I am here to take you to Diagon Alley. I imagine your letter told you somebody would be here today to take you for your school supplies, and another thing, where are your parents?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"My parents went out on an emergency call at their work, and I had been told that I was being picked up today, but I was under the impression it would be much later, it is, after all only half past nine, some people aren't even awake by then," she reasoned.

"Very well, Miss Granger, I will wait while you get yourself ready. You will need some money, and I can get it translated into wizarding money for you. I'm also taking a boy called Harry Potter to Diagon Alley, as he was raised by muggles, I think he's waiting near your house," explained Professor McGonagall.

Hermione jumped out of the pool, and waved to Harry, he waved back, albeit rather hesitantly. She then walked back to the house with Professor McGonagall, and all three of them walked through into the hall.

"Make yourself at home," Hermione said with a smile, she was pleased to be a part of this world. "There's food and drinks in the fridge," she said, and gestured to the kitchen, before walking upstairs, presumably to go and get changed out of her wet things.

Harry and Professor McGonagall headed through into the kitchen and took a seat, when asked if he wanted anything, Harry realized he was actually quite hungry. He got up and looked in Hermione's fridge, then grabbed a raspberry yoghurt, a banana and some orange juice, which he offered to McGonagall, pouring them both a glass, before tucking into his impromptu meal.

After ten or so minutes, Hermione came down the stairs and into the kitchen, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a white vest top with pink flip flops, carrying a small black bag on her shoulder, that probably had her money. _She looks quite nice, I hope we become friends._

"Hi, I'm Hermione," said Hermione with a grin.

"I'm Harry," he said, also smiling.

"Come along now," said McGonagall, she took hold of their arms and Harry felt the familiar tug of Apparating, they reappeared in front of a pub called The Leaky Cauldron.


	5. The Bank

A/N: PLEASE vote on my poll, it's on my profile page. Thanks for all your reviews (

Previously, on Accepted:-

"_Hi, I'm Hermione," said Hermione with a grin._

"_I'm Harry," he said, also smiling._

"_Come along now," said McGonagall, she took hold of their arms and Harry felt the familiar tug of Apparating, they reappeared in front of a pub called The Leaky Cauldron._

"Quick, in," ushered Professor McGonagall, hurrying them into the pub. _I wonder why she's taking us to a pub._ Hermione's thoughts echoed Harry's, her parents hadn't never taken her to pubs or bars, not believing her to be old enough to go in, however, both children followed their future professor in. When they entered, all eyes turned to them, mainly Harry though, and it was if everybody in the room knew him. Grins lit up faces of wizards and witches all sizes, some of which Harry wasn't entirely sure were human.

"Come on, we haven't got all day," said Professor McGonagall, snapping him out of his trance, and tugging on his arm. The trio walked through the pub until they reached the door on the other side, they had been stopped a fair few times by wizards and witches wanting to stop them to introduce themselves to Harry, or the 'boy who lived' as he had heard people murmur. _That's what Professor McGonagall said people call me. _Many introduced themselves and shook his hand, but he remembered a few, there was a confused looking man, who introduced himself as Dedalus Diggle. Harry remembered a past encounter with him, in a shop many years ago, and when he mentioned this, the wizard was overjoyed that Harry had remembered. Tom the innkeeper had introduced himself also, he owned The Leaky Cauldron, and told Harry that he was always welcome at the pub. Hermione didn't seem very shocked at Harry's fame, so he assumed that Professor McGonagall had informed her of it beforehand.

Once they had reached the door, and went through it, they were met with a brick wall. "_That's strange_," thought Hermione. "_Why would a door lead to a brick wall, and, more importantly, why would we go to that brick wall?" _

Her question was answered when Professor McGonagall warned them to stand back and then, pointed her wand at the brick wall. Hermione was thrilled at the meagre amount of magic she had seen so far, and was eagerly anticipating Hogwarts, where she was sure there would me far more magic. She wondered what this spell would be, perhaps there was a secret passage of some sort, and maybe Professor McGonagall was using a spell to reveal it. She took a deep breath in anticipation when Professor McGonagall cleared her throat, preparing for the spell. To Hermione's dismay, however, it wasn't a spell, as, Professor McGonagall simply tapped a number of bricks, seemingly in a certain order. She then stood back with Hermione and Harry, and after a few moments, the bricks moved, exposing them to a vibrant little village filled with shops, restaurants and café's.

"This must be Diagon Alley," thought Hermione. "I wonder what wizarding things they sell." Her question was soon answered by McGonagall, who pulled a list out of a pocket in her robes, and said "I've got a list of the places we'll need to go to get your school supplies and what we'll need to get. Once you have your school supplies, you may look in other shops if you wish, it's not everyday you have your first trip to Diagon Alley after all. The first stop however is Gringotts, the wizarding bank,"

Harry was getting more and more worried by the minute, he had seen Hermione get money for her school supplies, but Professor McGonagall hadn't stopped to ask the Dursleys for money before apparating away to Hermione's house, he wasn't entirely sure they would have given him some anyway. He had no idea where he would get the money from to pay for his supplies, and since he had no money he didn't see how going to a bank called Gringotts would help him.

Harry realised that he was lagging behind his two companions, so he quickened his pace, and ran up to a worried looking McGonagall. "Do try to keep up, even in the wizarding world, it isn't a good idea for an ten year old to be walking alone," she sounded rather worried, as he caught up she seemed relieved. "Once we arrive at Gringotts, myself and Miss Granger will accompany you to your vault. A vault is where a wizard stores his money, and you inherited your parents vault, you won't be able to access it until you are of age, but, a trust vault has been set up for you until that time comes, I imagine your trust fund will more than do you till graduation. Miss Granger, I'll also help you set up your vault, almost every witch and wizard has a Gringotts vault, even if you don't have much money, they're useful to have,"

_Well, that's good, now I won't have to worry about getting the money for school supplies, it seems like I have quite a lot of my own, maybe I can even take some back to the muggle world, the Dursleys might be a bit suspicious where I got it from though. _

Both Harry and Hermione followed McGonagall into a large stone building that looked quite intimidating. Many people were going in and out, some carrying large sacks of what Harry supposed was money. _This must be Gringotts. _They hurried through a large stone door that had an inscription engraved upon it: -

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sins of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

They passed a goblin guarding the doors as they entered a large marble entrance hall, he looked like someone you wouldn't want to cross, and Professor McGonagall confirmed this fact. "Gringotts is guarded by goblins, you would never make it out of here alive if you tried to steal anything, as the doors say. Of course I know that you two would never do anything of the sort," she was actually starting to quite like Harry and Hermione. It seemed like they both had good minds, and had a feeling that they would be good students in her transfiguration classes. Although she had hope to have James and Lily's son in Gryffindor, her houses and theirs, she thought that he would be good in any house, particularly Ravenclaw, the same with Hermione. From the conversations she had with the two, they seemed quite bright.

The trio walked up to a long stone counter, where dozens of goblins sat in a row, writing in important looking books, weighing coins on heavy metal scales and examining precious gems and treasures. Many doors except the front door lead off the main hall, and, lots of people were going in and out, it was very busy. _I suppose they must go to the vaults that Professor McGonagall was talking about. I can't believe I have one of my own! _

"Good morning, Griphook," Professor McGonagall greeted the goblin that was sitting on a tall stool behind the stone counter that they were standing in front of.

"What can I do for you?" asked Griphook the goblin. He was very small, his head wasn't exactly in proportion to his body, and he had a wrinkled face with a large nose.

"I would like to visit Mr Potter's trust vault, and then set up a vault for Miss Granger here," explained Professor McGonagall. "I have Harry's key, and Hermione is a muggleborn with no experience of the wizarding world, so you might need to explain a few things."

"Good," nodded Griphook. "Would you prefer to go together, or shall I take you separately?"

"I'd prefer to keep everybody together, if you don't mind," replied Professor McGonagall.

"In that case, then, we will go to Mr Potter's vault first. The key, if you please, and then follow me, I will escort you," said Griphook.

Griphook stood down from his stool and went around the counter, then began strolling towards one of the many doors that lead off from the entrance hall. They followed, and when they went through the door, they saw what looked like a train track. The room was wide, to allow for several of them, they held carts. _Looks like that's what takes people to their vaults, I don't see why it needs to be so complicated though. In muggle banks, I think they just have the money behind a lock or two, well, that's what it seemed like the few times I went with Aunt Petunia, anyway. _

Griphook had stopped next to one of the stationary carts by this time, and he was opening the door. "Ladies first," said Harry with a smile, stepping back to let Hermione and Professor McGonagall in first, earning looks of approval from them both. Harry and Griphook followed them in, Griphook explained about the vast amounts of security, and the banks set up, before, moving to the front seat, and checking that al three were sitting down safely.

"Hold tight, this is going to be a fast ride," warned Griphook, before grabbing a lever stuck to the floor of the cart, and pulling it back. The cart shot off into the darkness, going round twists and turns. Harry could hear Hermione squeal as they nearly came off the track, after another turn at breakneck speed.

"Is this speed quite necessary Griphook?" asked Professor McGonagall, who seemed a bit exhilarated herself. "I had forgotten quite how fast you goblins insist on going."

"Sorry, ma'am. There's only one speed, and this is it," said Griphook.

There were a few more minutes of rapid pulls on the lever as they turned and twisted through dark tunnels littered with sharp rocks protruding from the floor and ceiling. Hermione knew these to be stalactites and stalagmites, although even she was never entirely sure which was which. By Harry's confused looks up and down at the rocks, she guessed that he didn't either. There was a rather sudden stop, which jerked the cart, and had Hermione and Harry grabbing onto each other. Once they realized, they pulled back and blushed.

Griphook got out the cart, and announced "Vault three hundred and seventy five, Harry Potter's trust vault." He then took the key and placed it in a small, rectangular slot. The slot glowed silver, then, after a few seconds, it was ejected back out, and the heavy door slid to the side. It revealed piles upon piles of gold, silver and bronze coins. The gold coins were the biggest followed by the silver, and the bronze were the smallest. Harry hesitated, then at Griphook's gesture, he walked into the vault, it was about the size of the Dursley's living room, and this was only his trust vault! Professor McGonagall followed him in, and stood by his side, as Harry stood speechlessly staring at the mounds of money his parents had left him.

"This…this is all for me?" asked Harry, still in shock.

"Certainly, Harry, your parents were rather rich. Now, I don't imagine you'll know anything about wizarding money, so, the gold coins are galleons, and they are the most valuable. The silver ones are called sickles. The small, bronze coins are called knuts. In the muggle world, I understand things are done in tens and hundreds, however, it is a bit different here, and also it's more complicated to be honest. There are 29 knuts in a sickle, and 17 sickles in a galleon. It's complicated at first, but you'll find it easier over time," she explained.

"So that would make 493 knuts in a galleon?" asked Hermione, who was standing by the door.

"Yes, Miss Granger, galleons are quite rare, of course certain families have thousands, like Mr Potter here. I'm impressed at your mathematical abilities, although unfortunately, wizards don't hold them in such high esteem, as things that require magic. You might want to look up arithmancy, a branch of magic in which maths is essential at the Hogwarts library once you arrive, or perhaps you could look it up in Flourish and Blotts, the book shop here?" said Professor McGonagall.

Hermione grinned. "Certainly, professor. Maths was my best subject at my old school,"

"Now, Harry," said Professor McGonagall, turning her attention to him, as she handed him something. "Here's a money bag, you wouldn't want to be carrying money round in your pockets. It shrinks and lightens whatever is in the bag, so carrying it won't be a problem. School supplies aren't that expensive, and you most probably won't have another opportunity to spend wizarding money until next summer, when you can come back here and withdraw some anyway, so you won't need too much."

After some advice from Professor McGonagall, Harry put a pile of knuts, thirty sickles, and seven galleons into his money bag, then pulled the drawstring shut, and it immediately lightened. He placed it in the pocket of his jacket, and, then they headed out of the vault, and back into the cart. Once everybody was settled, Griphook started off again at the same thrilling speed as before. They arrived back at the same door they had came through, and went back into the entrance hall, following Griphook to another door, this one lead to corridors of offices.

"Harkop is one of the goblins who is in charge of new vaults, he will be setting one up for you, Miss Granger," said Griphook, before turning to leave them at a door which said

Harkop

Vault Installation.

"Thanks for all your help, Mr. Griphook," called Harry. Professor McGonagall echoed this, and then knocked on Harkop's door.

The goblin opened it, greeted them, and then ushered them into the small office. They took seats in front of his desk, he took one behind his desk.

"What can I do for you today, Professor McGonagall?" asked Harkop.

"I would like to set up an account for Hermione Granger here," she replied, gesturing to the girl sat on one side of her. Harry was sat on the other side of her. "She has some money with her now, but not a lot. Her muggle money also needs to be changed into wizarding money"

"Certainly, ma'am," replied the goblin. "I just need to take the money, then my colleagues will have to build the vault, and erect the wards, it should take around five days. As for the wizarding money, you can do that on your way out, just hand it to one of the goblins at the front desk, and they will do it without charge. Am I correct in presuming that you're paying for this?"

"That is correct," she replied. "Miss Granger, how much money did you bring with you?"

"I think it was about one hundred pounds," said Hermione.

"_A hundred pounds," thought Professor McGonagall. "With the exchange rate the way it is now, that's about twenty galleons, as it's five pounds to the galleon. Wizarding money really seems to be a lot more valuable than muggle money, I know most muggles consider five pounds to be practically nothing, about as valuable as a knut. Hermione will get a lot more for her money here than in the muggle world."_ Her thoughts were confirmed by Harkop.

"That's about twenty galleons, which is a lot in the wizarding world, Professor, how much will she need for school supplies?" asked Harkop.

"About six galleons is the most to be honest, but Hermione, you might as well have some extra incase you come across anything you want that isn't to do with school. I would suggest putting ten galleons, half of your money as your start up for your vault. I imagine it will gain some interest before you visit next, after your school year, unless you choose to visit in the holidays, providing you go home for them. Is this fine for you?"

"Certainly professor, but are you sure that fifty pounds will get my uniform, and all my other supplies?"

"Of course, money here is a lot more valuable than it is over in the muggle world,"

"Okay then, Professor," said Hermione, before reaching into her black bag and extracting a pretty ethnic looking green purse decorated with different coloured jewels and gems. She opened it, and handed Professor McGonagall five ten pound notes, and then leant over the desk to give Harkop the same.

"Thank you Miss Granger, I will send you an owl with the details of your account once it has been set up," he said. "You are now free to go."

They thanked him, then left and went back to the entrance hall where Hermione's money was changed, and the goblin handed her ten galleons.

"Now, it is time to get school supplies. There are many things you will need, but, I won't mind stopping any other shops. There's books, uniform, cauldrons, potions supplies and more, to be gotten," said Professor McGonagall. "Do be careful though."

They headed out of Gringotts and into the sunny, lively Diagon Alley, Harry was anticipating a long day of shopping ahead of them.


	6. The Wands

A/N: Some text has been taken directly from JK Rowling

A/N: Sorry if some of the events are totally wrong, I don't have a copy of the first book t the minute, I was also wondering, does that matter? It is AU, after all. Please vote on my poll on my profile page about which story I should write next. This story had a great response, and I'd like to thank you for that. (

_**Previously, on Accepted:**_

"_Now, it is time to get school supplies. There are many things you will need, but, I won't mind stopping any other shops. There's books, uniform, cauldrons, potions supplies and more, to be gotten," said Professor McGonagall. "Do be careful though."_

_They headed out of Gringotts and into the sunny, lively Diagon Alley, Harry was anticipating a long day of shopping ahead of them._

-&-

Where are we going first?" asked Harry, taking the question out of Hermione's mouth.

"The first shop we will be going to is Ollivanders, it sells wands, which you will need to perform magic. There are some wizards and witches who can perform magic without wands, but there a very few of those today, and, you would need a great deal of power. The wands are the most expensive school supply, but we buy them for muggle born or raised children, s school supplies can get really expensive, more so when you're just coming into the wizarding world," replied Professor McGonagall. "Just follow me, and we should be there in a few minutes.

Harry and Hermione walked by Professor McGonagall's side, careful not to lose her. They had both heard their teachers many stressed warnings about being careful, and not getting lost, it didn't seem like the wizarding world was a good place for an eleven year old muggleborn or the boy who lived to be wondering round unaccompanied.

They continued following McGonagall's lead, following her through the twists and turns, both thinking how wonderful Diagon Alley was. There were all sorts of shops, selling things that Harry and Hermione had never heard of, there was no way they would know what to do with them, they looked exciting though. All sorts of people walked through, most looked like friendly folk. Some looked a bit eccentric, wizarding robes did tend to do that to a person in Harry's opinion. Most muggles would never dream of wearing robes, which looked like a full length coat with long sleeves, that were orange with pink stars and moons covering them, however he had seen quite a few witches and even some wizards wearing similar robes of a similar style.

There were also people that seemed as though they were magical, but seemed quite un human like. There were the small creatures that were never alone, always following people, they had large ears, and large noses. They wore what looked like old pillowcases, with holes ripped into the sides and bottom for their arms and legs. When he had turned round to ask Hermione what they were, Professor McGonagall overheard and explained that they were house elves, and were basically slaves bound to a family. Harry was quite shocked at this, and wondered why slavery was still allowed, when, in the muggle world it had been outlawed centuries ago. It was a totally different world though, and there was bound to be many things Harry found strange, or didn't agree with. Maybe in a few years he could even team up with Hermione, who didn't look that pleased at the mention of slavery, and stop it, but now he would just have to learn to live with it. He decided he would ask to go into a bookshop once they had got their wands, there was so much he wanted to know about this world that he was now a part of.

After a few minutes of companionable silence, the pace turned a bit slower, and then, they stopped in front of a shop that had a sign in gold lettering above it, reading 'Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC', a few wands sat on cushions in an antique display case in the window and a bell tinkled as the three of them walked through the door and into the small shop. The shop itself was barely the size of the Dursley's kitchen, but behind the counter was a massive storeroom that was easily the size of their house twice over. They all walked up to the counter, the two children didn't really know what to except, but they did expect the unexpected after the morning they had had.

They hadn't been waiting very long when an old, rather eccentric looking man came up to them, introducing himself as Mr Ollivander. He was tall with white hair and brown eyes, his robes were full length, loose and black with a pattern of blue stars. He looked at the trio for a minute or so, clearly deep in thought, and then broke out in a grin.

"Minerva McGonagall," he exclaimed, and Harry and Hermione had to suppress a grin at the look of disapproval she was giving the old man. "I remember you quite well. Nine and a half inches, made from sycamore. Excellent for transfiguration work. How's it holding up?"

"Quite well, thank you," she replied. "It definitely is good for transfiguration work. I'm here to get wands for Harry Potter and Hermione Granger."

He looked quite shocked, and his voice dropped to a whisper. "Harry Potter you say? The one who defeated the dark lord? Hmmmm… Your mothers wand was ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow and good for charms work. Your father, on the other hand, had an eleven inch mahogany wand, pliable and good for transfiguration. You, though, I think will be a completely different story. I think you will find I have the ideal wand for you, the two halves will come together,"

Both Harry and Hermione were spooked by this little speech, but Professor McGonagall just rolled her eyes as if this happened every time she took students here.

"Yes, yes," he continued. "Definitely, I'll just grab it."

He dashed through to the many boxes of wands behind the counter, seemingly drawn to a certain one. When he got to it, he pointed his wand at it, and, it flew back to the counter, sitting atop it.

"Well, give it a wave then, Mr Potter," demanded McGonagall, half forgetting that he wouldn't know how wands are tested.

Harry dutifully obeyed, giving the wand an elaborate swish through the air, and, a rainbow of sparks shot out of the end of the wand, with a loud bang. Professor McGonagall looked quite impressed.

"Yes," said Mr Ollivander, rather wearily. "Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple. That wand is clearly still your destiny; I knew that the two halves were destined to be united once more. You see, Mr Potter, the reason that wand is your

destiny is because of what happened on that fateful Halloween night. When you defeated the Dark Lord, you became connected in a sense. Your wand only has half a phoenix feather in it… the dark lord's wand has the other half. I doubt you will ever be able to duel with him, not that you would want to if it were possible."

Harry was quite freaked out by all this talk of his connection to the dark lord, and, couldn't believe he had the same wand as him, and to be honest, it was all rather unnerving. As he was contemplating this, he realized that Hermione still had to get her wand, and, Mr Ollivander had paid her next to no attention. _Hmm, I think a change of subject is in order, Hermione and Professor McGonagall were giving me kinda weird looks after that speech Mr Ollivander gave._

Harry cleared his throat. "So, Mr Ollivander, what's Hermione's wand like?" he asked.

"Well, we shall have to see, won't we? Come a bit closer Miss Granger. May I enquire as to your wand hand?" he replied.

She walked up to the counter, and said "Well, I use my right hand to write, so I think it's probably that,"

"You are indeed correct Miss Granger," he said, before going and grabbing a few boxes of wands and placing them on the counter. He picked up one, short looking wand and handed it to her. "How about this one then? Eight and a half inches, made of beech wood and a core of dragon heartstring, good for duelling."

Hermione took and gave it an elaborate swishing motion through the dusty air, one single red spark shot out the end and stopped rather feebly, before falling to the ground.

"Clearly not the one for you Miss Granger," said Ollivander and handed her a different wand. "Twelve and three quarter inches, oak with a phoenix feather core."

Once more, she gave it a wave. The reaction this time was slightly better, but not by much. Harry counted three sparks flying out of the wand this time.

Mr Ollivander gave a sigh, then handed her another wand. "Try again please, Miss Granger. This one is made of mahogany with a unicorn feather core. Hopefully this one should work for you,"

Again, she took the wand and waved it. The results this time, however, were a little different. When she waved it, an almost instantaneous golden glow surrounding Hermione, nearly blinding the other three in the room.

"Woah," said Harry, at the same time as Professor McGonagall and Ollivander were thinking the same thing.

"It seems, Miss Granger that you a very powerful witch, just as young Harry here is very powerful wizard. I wouldn't be surprised if you got into Ravenclaw, it was my old house," said Mr Ollivander, amazed at how powerful these two children were.

"Indeed, Mr Ollivander. Now, how much do I owe you?" asked Professor McGonagall.

Harry opened his mouth to say that with all the money in his vault, wouldn't it be a better idea if her just paid for the wands, but he decided that he didn't want to be told off by Professor McGonagall.

"That'll be eleven galleons all together please," he said.

Professor McGonagall reached into the green bag hanging off her shoulder, that matched her green robes perfectly, and withdrew a bulging money sack. _It's probably like the one she gave me, it'll have loads of money in there! _She counted out eleven of the gold coins, then, handed them over to Ollivander, and handed Harry and Hermione their wands.

"Please keep them safe, and don't even think about doing magic with them until you get to school. There's a law that states if you are under 17, you can't do any magic away from Hogwarts. Okay?" she explained.

They both understood, and after telling her so, they all walked out into the warm Diagon Alley sunshine.

"So," said Hermione. "Where to next?"


	7. The Shops I

Previously, on Accepted:-

_**Previously, on Accepted:-**_

_Professor McGonagall reached into the green bag hanging off her shoulder, that matched her green robes perfectly, and withdrew a bulging money sack. It's probably like the one she gave me, it'll have loads of money in there! She counted out eleven of the gold coins, then, handed them over to Ollivander, and handed Harry and Hermione their wands. _

"_Please keep them safe, and don't even think about doing magic with them until you get to school. There's a law that states if you are under 17, you can't do any magic away from Hogwarts. Okay?" she explained._

_They both understood, and after telling her so, they all walked out into the warm Diagon Alley sunshine._

"_So," said Hermione. "Where to next?"_

-&-

"Well," said Professor McGonagall. "School supplies are of the utmost importance, so we must get them before we visit anywhere else. Do either of you have your Hogwarts letter with you?"

"Yes," Hermione nodded, rifling through her bag. "I have mine right here."

Hermione handed the heavy yellow piece of parchment to Professor McGonagall, and the professor untied the silky red ribbon Hermione had tied round it and unfurled the parchment.

"Now, when you read your letter I assume you also noticed and read the list of things you'll need. Just incase you haven't, I'll go over it. We'll need to go to Madame Malkin's for uniform; 3 pairs of plain black robes, a pointed black hat, a pair of protective dragonhide gloves, a black cloak with silver fastenings, and then to wear underneath all of that, you will need a few white shirts and black trousers, or skirts for you Hermione, and, finally a school tie. You can wear whatever shoes or socks you want. Then there's the books. There's eight you must have, I'll remind you which once we get to Flourish and Blotts, the bookshop. If you wish to get more, I don't mind, actually, I encourage it especially when, like you two, you don't have much knowledge. If you wish, I can recommend books that will be helpful for you. For potions, you will need a cauldron, the basic potions ingredients, a set of brass scales, and a set of crystal or glass phials. You'll also need a telescope for Astronomy. Finally, if you wish to bring a pet or familiar to Hogwarts, we allow cats, owls and toads," she said, finishing her rather length explanation and she was rather pleased she hadn't received a single interruption. _Wow, I've never even heard of half of this stuff before, I can't wait to get it. _

"Great," breathed Hermione. "What are we getting first?"

"Well, Miss Granger," replied Professor McGonagall. "If you and Mr Potter can come to an agreement, then you may pick. I have no preference which order we visit the shops in."

Both children broke out in grins at learning they could pick where they would go.

"Hermione?" asked Harry.

"Yes?" said Hermione.

"Why don't we take it in turns to decide where to go, I'll let you pick first," suggested Harry.

"Sure, Harry that's a great idea," she grinned as Professor McGonagall nodded her approval. "Can we go and look for familiars first? I've always wanted a pet."

"Of course, Miss Granger. What pet would you both like?" said Professor McGonagall.

"Well, I'd prefer a cat, but I want to keep in touch with my parents during the school year, and I've heard that owls can deliver your mail," replied Hermione.

"Well, in that case the better pet would be a cat, because there owls in school for that purpose, there are many so I'm sure there will always be one available. What about you, Harry?" she asked.

"I think I want a cat as well," replied Harry. _It'll be cool to have the same pet as Hermione, I hope we stay friends at Hogwarts. _

"Okay then," said Professor McGonagall. "There is a specialist shop that just sells cats an the things you will need to care for them on this street, we'll just head over to that now. It's called Callidora's Cat Crevice, I believe.

They walked over from where they had been standing when Professor McGonagall was explaining about the school supplies, and soon spotted the shop that Professor McGonagall had told them about. They went in, and were soon surrounded by cats of all different shapes and sizes, as well as lots of other things like collars and food. At first look, you would have thought it a muggle shop.

They walked up to the counter, and to the tall woman with long black hair covering most of her back and rich chocolaty brown eyes. _She's quite pretty. _

"Good morning, Callidora," greeted Professor McGonagall with a smile.

"Good morning, Minerva," said Callidora. _She obviously knows her, when Mr Ollivander tried to call her Minerva, she didn't look too pleased. _"What would you like today?"

"These two," she said, gesturing at Harry and Hermione. "Will be at Hogwarts this September, and were raised by muggles, so I'm taking them for their school supplies. They both expressed an interest in getting a cat, and, of course I recommended your shop."

"Of course, Minerva. I remember you taking me to get my supplies, certainly was a great day, it was my first day in the magical world" she said with a smile. "So, Harry, Hermione, what sort of cat were you thinking of getting? Any preference as to the color or breed?"

"Well," started Harry, rather hesitantly. "I'm not really sure about the breeds of cats, and, for the colors, I know witches are supposed to have black cats, but I think I would prefer a tabby if you don't mind."

Professor McGonagall and Callidora both laughed at this.

"Harry, dear," said Callidora. "Whatever you've heard, it's wrong. Witches don't have to have black cats, you can pick whichever cat you want."

McGonagall nodded at this. "I am actually an animagus, someone that can transform at will into an animal form, my form is a cat, and not a black one. Magical folk and creatures are rarely the way they are portrayed in muggle books and films. Why don't you both just take a look at all the cats Callidora has and see which one you want. Would that be all right dear?"

"Of course, Minerva," replied Callidora and lead them over to where she kept the array of cats and kittens once they had confirmed they were looking for something of the household variety, and were most definitely not looking for fully grown tigers.

Harry and Hermione spent nearly half an hour looking at and playing with the kittens, they had both fell in love with one. While they were playing, Minerva and Callidora were catching up on each others lives. Callidora was Minerva's student, and they developed a friendship during the weekly visits that Minerva made to the head girl, checking what was happening in the houses and the like. Once out of the school, they continued to write and occasionally met up. Callidora had taught Care of Magical creatures for a few years after she had graduated, but, left to start up her own business.

"What's the time?" said Professor McGonagall, rather suddenly.

"I'll just check for you Minerva," offered Callidora, and she muttered a time incantation. 11:35 flashed red in the air ten times before disappearing again.

"Oh dear, seems like I've spent a bit longer here than I anticipated, sorry to be going, Callidora, but I can't have them out too long, and we have a lot to get. If they've made a decision as to which cat they want, we'll buy them now,"

"Certainly, Minerva, I'll just grab them a basic starter kit with the things they'll need, if you could take the kids to the front of the store?"

Minerva walked over to where Harry and Hermione were talking to each other with grins, while, cuddling a kitten each.

"Have you made your decision?" asked McGonagall.

"Yes," they both said, each hugging a kitten.

"Good, come with me to the front of the store then,"

They both followed her up to the counter Callidora was once more standing behind, with a smile ever present on her pale face. Harry had chosen a small tabby kitten, and Hermione had chosen a black kitten.

"Okay then, each cat costs two galleons, and I'll throw in the essentials free. There's a bed, a water bowl, a food bowl, enough food for a month, you can order more by owl mail. There's also a brush and cat litter, and a special collar with protective wards to stop anyone from harming your cat, they come in all different colours, and you can pick which one," she explained.

Harry chose a green collar, and Hermione chose a purple collar, and, they both handed over the two galleons, with Hermione hoping that she still had enough to get plenty of books.

"Um, Professor?" said Hermione.

"Yes?" asked McGonagall.

"How are we going to carry all this and our cats, what if they jump out of our arms and escape," asked Hermione, wondering if this called for more magic.

"Well," said McGonagall. "I'm sure you can get a special bag to carry your cats in that will be comfortable for them, if you don't want to carry them, and I can shrink all of your purchases and unshrink them when you get back to your homes. Goodbye Callidora, we had better be going now. Harry, Hermione, we don't have unlimited time, so please try not to take too long at the shops."

Harry and Hermione both thanked Callidora, and, once McGonagall had shrunk their purchases, and, made sure their cats were comfortable and not likely to fall out of the bags Harry and Hermione were now carrying them in, they exited the shop.

"Mr Potter, I believe that it is your turn to pick where we go now, as, you and Miss Granger decided," said McGonagall.

"Well, I don't really mind. I love reading, so I want to leave the bookshop till last," explained Harry.

"Okay then, Mr Potter, we can just go and get your telescopes now, it isn't exactly interesting but, it should be quick," suggested McGonagall.

They walked to the astronomy shop, and were out within 5 minutes after both paying 12 silver sickles for identical telescopes. McGonagall once more shrunk their purchases, and, they then went to the shop that sold potions supplies, which turned out to be called Slug and Jigger's Apothecary.

A bell rang as they entered the shop, it was a fascinating place filled with all sorts of interesting things. Barrels of slimy stuff were lined up on the floor and jars of all sorts of powders, herbs, and the like along the walls. Bundles of feathers, fangs, and claws hung from the ceiling. The whole place smelt very bad, a mixture of bad eggs and rotten cabbage.

Once more, McGonagall walked up to the counter and when she greeted the shopkeeper, he acknowledged her. _She must come her quite a lot, all the shopkeepers seem to know her._ The clerk behind the counter, who turned out to be called Mr. Jigger, handed them packages of potion supplies, which cost a sickle each, a discount for new Hogwarts students. He stocked scales and phials, which they both bought and then had them shrunk, however he didn't sell cauldrons, and, instead directed them to the shop next to him.

It was simply called All Cauldrons for all Purposes. They looked round for a bit. Harry really liked the silver, self-stirring ones, thinking that if it was self-stirring he wouldn't have to do as much work. There had been an advert for a gold cauldron, priced at 10 galleons. _I won't be able to get that then, I don't have enough and I don't expect McGonagall will let me go back to the vault and get more money, she'll probably say another one will be fine. This self-stirring silver one's six galleons and 2 sickles. I'd still have a galleon, 12 sickles and 40 knuts. That might be enough for the rest of the school supplies. _

"Professor?" mused Harry.

"Yes?"

"Would I be able to get this silver, self-stirring cauldron? It's only 6 galleons and 2 sickles, and I can always get more money from my vault?"

Minerva pursed her lips together. "Really Harry, a silver cauldron isn't necessary, the pewter ones will do just fine, and it's a lot of money you're going to be spending for no reason. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be spending so much money, you'll need someone to teach you wizarding culture and how to look after your money. I don't think you realized just how much six galleons is. As for the self-stirring, your potions teacher won't be too pleased about that,"

Harry was a bit disappointed. _Ah well, at least if I don't get the silver cauldron, I'll have more money to spend on other things. I guess that is a good idea of McGonagall's have lessons on finances and wizarding culture, but Hermione should probably have them as well, since her parents are muggles. _

"Okay then," said Harry with a half smile. "How much is the pewter cauldron?"

The clerk answered. "They're just 3 sickles, and I'll throw in a bottle of free cleaning potion incase anything explodes in it, which can often happen in Potions classes.

"Okay, I'll take one," said Harry, and pulled out his money bag, which was beginning to get a bit lighter, and handed over the three silver coins.

"I'll take one too," said Hermione, also handing over three silver sickles.

The man thanked them, and, then summoned two pewter cauldrons, and handed them over. They exited the shop, the bell ringing as they went through the door.

"Give me your cauldrons please," said Professor McGonagall. They handed them over, and she once more shrunk them. She handed them back, and Harry slipped his into his pocket, and, Hermione put hers into her shoulder bag.

"We just have books and clothes to get now, Mr Potter suggested leaving the bookshop till last, so we'll get uniform and things now, the name of the shop is called Madame Malkin's, we'll need all the uniform I mentioned before, and, you can purchase anything else you wish,"

They walked through a few streets before arriving at Madame Malkin's robes for all occasions, the full name of the clothes/robes shop. It was a large shop, near The Leaky Cauldron. It was a bit busier than the other shops they had been in, the difference being that there were a lot more witches coming in and out of this shop than wizards.

They entered, and a witch came over, dressed in designer looking ruchéd dark red robes.

"Hello, professor," said the witch.

"Good morning, Madame Malkin, I have two students here, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, for Hogwarts uniform," said Professor McGongall

"Actually, it's five past twelve, it's getting into the afternoon," replied Madame Malkin with a smile. "I'll take Mr Potter and Miss Granger into the fitting room, I shouldn't be more than half an hour."

Harry and Hermione followed Madame Malkin into the back room. In five parts of the room, the floor was raised slightly, and in between all of these there were curtains that could be drawn. In each section there was a seat, and a few hooks for robes.

"Just sit down somewhere please, and, I'll get your uniform ready for you," said Madame Malkin.

They walked over to the end of the room, each taking a seat, in adjacent sections.

"So, what do you think of the wizarding world so far then?" asked Harry.

"I love it," exclaimed Hermione with a grin, and then blushed.

"It's all right Hermione, I do to. It's amazing, you might think this is weird, but I can't wait for September so we can go to school,"

"Oh no Harry, I don't think you're weird. I'm really looking forward to going to school as well, all the stuff we're going to be learning sounds really interesting. Do you think…do you think when we get to Hogwarts we could stay friends?"

Harry broke out in a grin. "Really?" he asked.

Hermione blushed. "Well…if you don't want to," she stammered.

"Oh no, Hermione. I definitely want to be your friend, you're my first friend. I just wasn't sure you would want to be friends with me,"

"You're my first friend too…well, first proper friend," smiled Hermione, tearing up.

Harry squeezed her hand, hoping it would make her feel better. "Thanks Harry," said Hermione. "Maybe you can come to my house before we go to Hogwarts.

"Sure, Hermione, that would be great,"

There was the sound of somebody clearing their throat, and they jerked apart, looking upwards to see a pale blonde haired boy staring at them with a sneer on his lips…


	8. The Conversation with Draco

Previously, on Accepted:- Previously, on Accepted:-

_There was the sound of somebody clearing their throat, and they jerked apart, looking upwards to see a pale blonde haired boy staring at them with a sneer on his lips…_

"Um…Hello?" said Hermione nervously, looking up at the blonde boy.

"Who are you?" asked Harry, and for some reason, when Harry asked this, the boy's face seemed to show a little shock that they didn't know who he was.

"I am Draco Malfoy," said Draco with a haughty expression. "The Malfoy name is one the greatest and well known in the wizarding world. You're obviously Harry Potter, anybody in the wizarding world would know that, but who are you?" he asked Hermione.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she replied.

"What's your blood status?" he asked.

"Blood status?" she repeated confusedly.

"Yes," he said with a sigh. "It means if your parents are wizards, muggles which means non magical, or a mixture of both."

"Oh," said Hermione, understanding now, Harry had already it explained to him earlier, at the Dursleys. "Well, as far as I know, my parents are both muggles."

"I see," said Draco with a frown. "Well, I'm a pureblood, ten generations back and my father says that I'm not supposed to mix with muggleborns, he calls them mudbloods though. When we get to Hogwarts though, he won't know, so maybe I will be friends with you two, if we're in the same house. Which house do you think you're going to be in?"

"Well," said Hermione. "We don't really know any of them, Professor McGonagall mentioned Ravenclaw, but we don't know anything about it."

Draco frowned again. "You know, most wizards and witches know all this stuff before they come to Hogwarts, but of course being raised by muggles you won't have, you're going to have an unfair disadvantage there. What have you been told?"

"Not much really," replied Hermione.

"Okay then," said Draco. "Well, there are four houses called Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. You get sorted into one of them, and that's where you stay for your seven years at Hogwarts. You're supposed to be sorted based upon personality, but I've heard that the sorting hat can take other things into consideration as well, like your family, and your preference. People say that Slytherin is for evil people, but actually, it's for cunning and ambitious people. Gryffindor is for the brave, not that other houses aren't brave, but Gryffindors tend to go straight into things. Hufflepuff is for the hardworking and loyal. Finally, Ravenclaw is for the more clever, studious students that are interested in school."

There was silence for a moment as Harry and Hermione took in all the information that Draco had just divulged.

"I think I would want to be in Slytherin," said Hermione after a bit of though, for some reason this shocked Draco. "It's for ambitious people, and I am one of them, I intend to get somewhere in life."

"I think that sounds pretty good too, but I like school and reading, so Ravenclaw doesn't sound too bad," added Harry.

"You know, Hermione, you going into Slytherin might not be the best of ideas, they have a reputation for not liking muggleborns so you probably wouldn't be to happy there. Slytherin probably isn't a very good idea for you either, Harry, lots of the old dark families that are always in Slytherin wouldn't be too pleased to have you there. As for me, my father expects me to go into Slytherin, like ten generations of Malfoy have before me, but I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw, and I don't think my father would be too mad if I was sorted there," explained Draco.

"Good explanation," said Harry with a smile.

"How long do you think it'll be till Madame Malkin comes back?" asked Hermione, realising that they had actually been waiting here for a rather long time.

"How long have you been here for?" asked Draco.

"Well," said Hermione, glancing at her distinctly muggle watch. "We must have been here for at least twenty minutes now, which is weird, Madame Malkin said she would be through in two minutes. Do you think she's forgotten about us?"

"Possible," replied Draco. "I'll go and check, she _has_ to come for a Malfoy."

He wondered off. "So," said Harry with a raised eyebrow. "What did you think?"

"Well, he seemed nice, and he explained lots of useful things to us really well, but, I don't know, do you think he seemed a bit arrogant?"

"A bit," admitted Harry. "But other than that, he seems nice. We all want to be sorted into Ravenclaw, so we'll probably end up being friends."

Just then, Draco, Madame Malkin and two assistants appeared at the doorway.

"Time to get your robes fitted," said Madame Malkin. "If you could all just sit down next to one of the curtains please."


	9. The Talk of FireWhisky

Previously, on Accepted:- Previously, on Accepted:-

"_I am Draco Malfoy," said Draco with a haughty expression. "The Malfoy name is one the greatest and well known in the wizarding world. You're obviously Harry Potter, anybody in the wizarding world would know that, but who are you?" he asked Hermione._

…

"_We all want to be sorted into Ravenclaw, so we'll probably end up being friends." _

…

"Time to get your robes fitted," said Madame Malkin. "If you could all just sit down next to one of the curtains please."

…

After nearly an hour of being prodded and poked with pins and standing in rather uncomfortable positions, while Madame Malkin in Harry's case, and her assistants in Hermione and Draco's case, fitted them for school uniforms. The uniform for Hogwarts was- a plain white shirt, a plain tie that changed to your house colors once you were sorted , a jumper with you house colors, plain black/white/grey ankle/knee length socks with black trousers, or a black knee length skirt with tights or knee high stockings for girls, and the same for boys but without skirts. You could wear whatever smart shoes you wanted to, but first years weren't allowed shoes with too high a heel.

At Draco's advice, Harry and Hermione had also gotten a few pairs of robes that weren't school uniform, he had told them it would probably make them ft in more in the wizarding world, and Harry didn't doubt him. Hermione had then made them stand and look at shoes for a while, much to Harry and Draco's disgust, but eventually she picked out a pair of purple ballerina flats, which Harry said he liked since they were an unusual colour for shoes.

"So, Draco who are you here with?" asked Hermione, as she struggled to find the shoes she wanted in her size.

"Nobody, I've been coming here by myself for a while now, Father says that Malfoys need to learn independence, and my parents are away a lot anyway," replied Draco, curious as to why she wanted to know.

"Well, why don't you come with us for a bit?" asked Hermione. "We're with Professor McGonagall, it might be a good idea to introduce yourself to some teachers before you get to school. She's letting us go wherever we want after Flourish and Blotts anyway, and we might need a bit of guidance from you since this is mine and Harry's first time at Diagon Alley."

"Sure," replied Draco with a grin. "Sounds good. I'll come if Professor McGonagall lets me. There's some really cool shops around here, but Flourish and Blotts s definitely one of the best. Are you not hungry though? It's nearly half past one."

"Now that you mention it, Draco, I am quite hungry. After Hermione has paid for these shoes, we can go and find Professor McGonagall to see about getting something to eat, I'm sure she won't be too far away, and she probably won't mind about you tagging along," said Harry.

"Hi, shall we go and find Professor McGonagall now?" asked Hermione, having paid for her new school shoes now. Harry and Draco saw no need to get shoes there, already having a pair at home that would do fine, or in Draco's case a wardrobe full.

They headed out of the shop, wondering where McGonagall could be.

"Which way should we go then? Towards the Leaky Cauldron, or the opposite way?" wondered Draco.

"Well," decided Hermione. "The Leaky Cauldron is just along the street, so why don't we go there, and if she isn't there, start walking along in the opposite direction?"

"Sounds good," smiled Draco, different to the sneer he had given them before.

Harry also agreed with Hermione's idea, and so the trio set off on the path towards The Leaky Cauldron, in search of Professor McGonagall. They reached the brick wall separating Diagon Alley from The Leaky Cauldron, and Harry and Hermione then realized that they were unsure of what to do, they had seen McGonagall waving her wand at the wall, and tapping the bricks in a certain way, but they hadn't been paying enough attention to know exactly what to do.

Draco sensed this, and he told them not to worry. After coming here many times, with and without his parents, he had managed to memorize the way to The Leaky Cauldron. After entering the pub from the back entrance, they stood and looked around for Professor McGonagall, eventually spotting her at the London entrance. They headed over to her, but for some reason, when she spotted Draco there was a look of surprise on her face at the blonde boy.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall," said Hermione. "Is it alright if Draco joins us for a bit? We met him in Madame Malkins, and he's by himself, so we thought it would be nice if it had some company."

Once Professor McGonagall had gotten over the initial shock that the Malfoy heir was meeting with a muggleborn and the boy who lived, she said, "Yes, of course, I see no problem. Take a seat. Is anybody hungry? If you want, we'll have lunch here, and you can get used to some wizarding food and drink, some of it is quite different to the usual muggle fare that you're used to,"

They all took a seat at the small, square oak table she was sitting at, Hermione sitting next to Professor McGonagall and Harry and Draco sitting next to each other, opposite the other two. There were a few menus sitting around, and Harry marveled at the strange sounding food. He had heard of at least half of the food and drink, but there were some that sounded as if they were definitely wizard. They sat in a silence for a minute or two, all reading the extensive menus trying to decide what they wanted.

"So, what do you want to drink then? I'll go get them now, and when I come back I'll order the food," enquired Prfoessor McGonagall.

Harry put down the menu he had been reading. "Can I have a fire whisky, they sound pretty nice?" he asked.

For some reason, both Draco and Professor McGonagall seemed to be rather amused at that comment. Harry wondered what was so funny about asking for a drink.

At seeing Harry's confused look, Professor McGonagall cleared things up for him, "The reason, Harry, that you can't have firewhisky is that you are not old enough to be drinking alcohol, firewhisky is a very alcoholic drink, that normally makes fire come out of your ears. What drink would you like except firewhisky?"

"Ummm….I guess orange juice will be fine, thanks," replied Harry. As well as having wizarding drinks, The Leaky Cauldron also stocked muggle drinks, which had turned out to be quite popular, and not just with muggleborns and muggles.

Draco ordered a glass of pumpkin juice, and Hermione ordered a hot chocolate after discovering that they didn't have cranberry juice. Professor McGonagall returned from the bar and handed out drinks, she had gotten herself something unfamiliar, although it looked similar to Draco's pumpkin juice, so he guess that it must be some sort of juice.

She then asked what everybody would like to eat. Draco, being used to rich food at Malfoy Manor and high end restaurants chose a salmon salad, admittedly simple fare for him, but it was nice to have a break from the rich food he constantly had. Harry decided to go for something sample, he'd nearly always had food at the Dursley's, the longest without it had been three days, but, he always had small portions, and so chose a plain jacket potato. Hermione seemed to like exotic food, as she chose a Chinese dish of sweet and sour chicken with fried rice and vegetables. Finally, Professor McGonagall ordered a piece of pumpkin pie, something Harry had never tried or seen.

They all enjoyed the odd combination of meals, and had a fairly pleasant conversation, aside from the fact that McGonagall occasionally shot Draco strange looks for a reason none of them knew. When they finished, they all dug into their money pockets to pay for their share of the meal, Draco insisting that he would pay for it all, however McGonagall insisted that she was the adult and she would pay, so she got up and handed over 2 galleons and 9 sickles to Tom, the man behind the bar who also owned the pub.

"Shall we head to Flourish and Blotts then?" said Professor McGonagall with a smile, and her question was met with grins and more questions.


	10. The End of The Trip

Previously, on Accepted:- Previously, on Accepted:-

"_Shall we head to Flourish and Blotts then?" said Professor McGonagall with a smile, and her question was met with grins and more questions._

-&-

The trio followed her with a grin, this time when they went through the back entrance of The Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley, Harry and Hermione made sure to watch McGonagall carefully to see what she was doing, incase they were here without Draco or a magical adult. This was quite likely, as Hermione would probably be coming with her parents next time, who were muggles so they wouldn't know anything about the magical world except what Hermione told them. It wasn't actually that hard, as all the bricks you had to tap were a subtle shade lighter than the rest, and, the order was simple as well, just left to right and then top to bottom.

It turned out that Flourish and Blotts was on the same street as The Leaky Cauldron, they would have passed it when they went to Madame Malkins, so it only took them a few minutes to get there. They arrived in front of a large shop, the sign above the door said 'Flourish and Blotts, booksellers since 1453' in spindly purple letters with a picture of a book.

As they entered the shop, a chime sounded alerting the shop of their presence, an old man walked towards them, introducing himself as Mr Blott, the book shop had been in his family for years.

"Do you need any help?" he asked, subtly glancing at Harry and Draco. As the heirs of the Potter and the Malfoy fortune, he was sure that he could get plenty of business from them. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't subtle enough for Professor McGonagall, as, she gave him a frosty glare.

"We are here for first year school books. Two sets I think," said McGonagall in a crisp voice, clearly not liking the fact that this bookshop owner was trying to squeeze money out of two children.

"And a set for me too please," said Draco.

"Ah yes, sorry Draco dear, I assumed you would already have yours," said McGonagall with a smile.

"Ok then, three sets of first school books coming up. Any specific books you need, Ma'am?" he said, looking at Professor McGonagall.

"No thank you, Mr Blott. Now, Harry, Hermione, Draco, is there anything you're interested in, we can go and look for it while we're waiting for your school books," asked McGonagall.

"Well, I've always been interested in history, so I guess I'd like to find out about wizarding history," said Hermione.

"Obviously I already know a lot about wizarding history, especially the pureblood side. I'm interested in quite a few things, but since I'll be going to Hogwarts soon, I was wondering if you could recommend any books about it? All I really know are the houses, and how Slytherin is apparently the best one, but it wouldn't be that bad if I got into Ravenclaw, which is my preference," explained Draco.

"Um," said Harry with a blush. "I'm not really sure, but Hermione's and Draco's ideas sound interesting.

"That sounds fine. Hermione, there's a whole section on wizarding history, I'm sure you'll find it very interesting, you'll even recognize some of it as wizarding history tends to be parallel with muggle history some of the time. Draco, I know a few books about Hogwarts, but the only official one is Hogwarts: A History, which will definitely tell you what you want to know, it'll be very useful reading. Harry, if you think of anything that interests you, just tell me," said Professor McGonagall.

Wizarding history was a huge section at the back of the store, with many shelves. There was books about all sorts of history, from the very early prehistoric magic to recent history, like Voldemorts downfall. The history books were also on all subjects, from notable aurors, a history of healing.

"Wow," said Hermione. "That's a lot of History books, I've no idea which ones to get. I've only got just over a galleon left as well."

"Normal books aren't that expensive, with a galleon you should be able to get quite a few, maybe ten extra at the least. Why don't you just get two or three basic books, there's no need to get the whole shop, or any complex books. Then, you can get a few other books as well. Would you mind if I recommended some books for you?" asked Professor McGongall.

"Of course not, Professor, I'm sure your recommendations will be really useful. I would like get books on subjects other than history as well though," replied Hermione.

"Well, a good thing to get would be some books that tell you the basics of wizarding custom and law. You should definitely some things about the world you're going to be part of, I don't know why Hogwarts doesn't tell you more about it. How about these books?" asked Professor McGonagall, holding three books. Wizarding through the ages, Notable Dark and Light Wizards and a recent history of the wizarding world.

"They sound really interesting," said Hermione with a smile, taking the books into her arms, while examining a few more on the shelves. "This one looks good as well," she added, holding up another book. "It's called The Great Women of the Last Century, it would be nice to read about some witches, lots of the books seem to focus on wizards."

"That is true, it is a very good books though. I have a copy of my own, I can highly recommend it. You've made a good choice there," explained Professor McGonagall.

"Draco," said Professor McGonagall, handing him a few books. "Here are the best books about Hogwarts. They contain lots of useful information about the castle, the lessons, the history, and more.

"Could I have Hogwarts: A History as well?" asked Harry.

"Certainly," said McGonagall, handing him a copy. "Have you picked up any other books you think look intresting?"

"Yes," he replied, holding up a book. "It's about the evil guy who called my parents, and I'm in it. I thought it would be a good idea to learn a bit about him."

Draco snorted. "Harry, you realize you're the first person to call You-Know-Who 'the evil guy',"

"Well, it sounds better than You Know Who, I'm going to call him the evil guy just to be different," replied Harry with a grin. Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows at this, but said nothing.

"Can we go and look at Quidditch books now?" asked Draco in a whiny sort of voice.

"If everybody else is ready then we can," said Professor McGonagall in a slightly in annoyed voice, she wasn't even supposed to be looking after Draco.

"Well, I'm ready," said Hermione.

"Me too," added Harry.

"Okay then, come on," said Professor McGonagall, leading them up some stairs and through the vast store to a section on sport, which mainly had books on Quidditch.

Hermione and Harry hung back, neither of them knew what Quidditch was and Hermione had never really been into sport anyway.

"Come on," said Draco, standing a few bookshelves away from them and holding up a book called Quidditch through the ages.

They walked over to him and pointed out that they'd never even heard of the sport.

"Oh yeah," said Draco. "Forgot you were muggle raised, still you can play on your quidditch team in your 2nd year and we'll be getting flying lessons this year, so it might be useful to know something about it. Still, you don't have to buy a book, just borrow mine."

"Thanks Draco," said Harry.

"It's fine," said Draco before adding a book about techniques beaters used to the small pile of books in his arms that was beginning to get heavier.

"Any other books you want?" asked McGonagall.

"Well," said Harry. "Like you said before, I think it would be a good idea to get some books about wizarding law and custom, and I also think I want to get a book about my family, if there is any, it seems like every single book ever is here."

"Books were written on the prominent families, so it's very likely that there will be one about the Potter's, I'll ask somebody to run and get it for you. Even though there are so many books here already, there simply isn't enough space to keep them all in the shop, so there are a lot kept in the back room with shrinking charms. After I've done that, and we've got some books on customs, then we should be ready to go," explained Professor McGonagall.

They headed back down the stairs, to where the books about wizarding society were. They took some for Harry and Hermione, Draco of course didn't need any, and then went to the counter.

"I have your school books here," said an elderly woman, who was Mr Blott's wife. She handed them the packages of books and handed a book about the Potter family to Harry.

Harry took it and paid the lady 14 sickles, meaning that he had only a galleon and a few sickles and knuts left. Hermione paid a galleon and a sickle, and Draco paid a galleon.

They headed out of the shop. "Well, we've got everything you need for school now, I believe it's time to head home. Draco, will you be alright getting home on your own?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Yes, I'll just floo from The Leaky Cauldron back home. Thanks for looking after me," replied Draco.

"You're welcome dear," said McGonagall with a smile.

"Bye Draco, see you at Hogwarts," said both Hermione and Harry.

Draco wondered off in the direction of The Leaky Cauldron, waving at them as he went. "Okay then," said Professor McGonagall. "I'd better get you home, we've been here quite a while, it's nearly half past four, hold on to my arm please so that I can apparate you home."

They both grabbed an arm each, and then with a quick pop they were once more standing in front of Hermione's house.

"Thanks for taking me to Diagon Alley, Professor" thanked Hermione with a grin.

"Harry, I'll see you at Hogwarts, maybe even before?" asked Hermione.

"Sure," said Harry, giving her Mrs Figg's telephone number, explaining that the Dursley's had a fear of magical people.

"I'm sure they'll be fine," said Professor McGonagall.

Harry just frowned, she clearly didn't know how much the Dursley's hated magic.

They both said goodbye to Hermione, and then appeared in Privet drive with another pop.

Harry thanked McGonagall for taking him to Diagon Alley, and she handed over the purchases, which she had returned to the normal size.

"Are you sure you will be alright here?" asked Professor McGonagall.

"Yes, and if I'm not it's only for three weeks," said Harry with a grin.

"Okay, if you're sure," said Professor McGonagall. "Now, you'll have to be at Kings Cross station in London by about ten minutes to eleven, as the train leaves at eleven. If you're not able to get there, speak to Mrs Figg, your next door neighbour, she has means of contacting me and I can arrange something for you. Make sure everything goes in your trunk, you won't be able to come back unless it's an emergency until Christmas. When you get to Kings Cross, you'll notice that the ticket I'll give you says Platform nine and three quarters, this means that you will have to walk through the wall between platforms nine and ten, don't worry it won't hurt. They normally explain all of this to muggleborn students, but they didn't say anything to you, whoever writes the letters must have forgotten that you're muggle raised," explained Professor McGonagall, hoping that Harry had been able to take all this information in.

"Thanks for telling me that, I would have probably been a bit surprised when I got to the station and realized that there was no platform nine and three quarters. The only thing I don't know is what a trunk is," replied Harry.

"Oh sorry, I forgot to tell you about that. Although muggles tend to use suitcases, since you're going away for a whole year you won't be able to fit everything you need, including everything for school into one, so wizards use trunks, they fit lots in and some even come with charms that make it slightly bigger on the inside than the outside so you can fit more in as well as a charm that makes it much less heavy. I'll send one on to you," said Professor McGongall.

"Thanks Professor, I guess I'll see you on the first of September," said Harry.

"You certainly will. Goodbye," said Professor McGonagall, apparating away with a quick pop, leaving Harry with purchases piled in his arms and next to him on the ground.

He rang the doorbell, and Aunt Petunia answered, taking in the telescope, pile of books and other things he had with him.

"Come on then, get in," she hissed.

He hurried in after her, dumping his stuff at the bottom of the stairs. "I suppose I had better help you carry all that stuff to your room," said Aunt Petunia with a sigh, and grabbed the bag with his uniform in, his telescope and potions supplies.

They went upstairs, dumping all the stuff on his bed.

Suddenly, Aunt Petunia let out a squeal. Harry turned to ask her what was wrong, then realized that he hadn't fastened the door on his cat's carrier, and she had jumped onto Petunia.

"You bought a cat!" she screamed.


	11. The Talk With Petunia

Previously, on Accepted- Previously, on Accepted- Suddenly, Aunt Petunia let out a squeal. Harry turned to ask her what was wrong, then realized that he hadn't fastened the door on his cat's carrier, and she had jumped onto Petunia."You bought a cat!" she screamed.

-&-

"Well," started Harry. "If you think about, you won't see her at all, I'll be at school for most of the year, and she can stay in my room. I bought food and a bed and everything."

"Yes," said Petunia, sitting on the bed with the cat in her arms. It was gently purring and snuggling into her, it was obvious Petunia liked her. "I guess it's okay as long as she doesn't make a mess. Does _she _have a name?"

"I'm not really sure," said Harry with a small smile, it would be good to win his Aunt over and have her on his side. "Have you got any suggestions?"

"Well, you could call her after a flower, like your mother, sort of in honour of her," said Aunt Petunia, sounding rather doubtful about her idea.

"Sure," said Harry with a grin, picking up his cat. "Say hello to Daisy."

"Nice name," said Aunt Petunia with a grin.

"Good," thought Harry. "Aunt Petunia seems much nicer now, even thought she wasn't exactly very nice after I got my Hogwarts letter. It would be a good thing to have her not hating me, I don't know how Uncle Vernon will react to magic, if he finds out of course."

Back to reality, Harry smiled up at Aunt Petunia and thanked her for helping him with his things, and then asked whether she wanted to see the things he had gotten for Hogwarts.

"Um," said Petunia in a high pitched voice, looking startled as if she had forgotten that he was indeed magical. "Maybe later."

"Okay then Aunt Petunia," said Harry, then paused, realizing that it was almost six 'o' clock. "Do you want me to make dinner?"

"Yes please," said Aunt Petunia, retaining her startled look. "Would you mind making spaghetti Bolognese?"

This was one of Vernon's favourites, and Aunt Petunia often asked him to make it, so he had made it so many times by now it was really easy, and didn't mind it.

"Sure, I'll go down and start in a few minutes," replied Harry.

"Thanks Harry," said Aunt Petunia. "After dinner when Vernon and Dudley are watching TV, you can show me your school things."

-&-

After a rather awkward dinner in which Dudley and Petunia did most of the talking with lots of awkward pauses, Dudley and Vernon had headed off to the living room to watch the wrestling like they normally did each Saturday. Petunia hovered around the door as if she was waiting for Harry to finish loading the dishwasher, which was what he was currently doing.

When Vernon called through, asking what Petunia was doing, she left the kitchen and headed around to the dining room to call her friend, Yvonne, after remembering she had promised to ring her once she had arrived back from Ibiza.

Harry turned the dishwasher on, and then heard the telltale beep of the phone being hung up, they seemed to have good timing. He walked upstairs to his room, and sat on his bed, waiting for his Aunt.

"I'm just going upstairs to the bedroom, Vernon," yelled Petunia.

Vernon grunted.

"There's a new episode of that show on, Gossip Girl it's called," she said.

"Ok," he said, managing to drag himself away from the TV away for a second.

Petunia nodded, not that Vernon actually noticed though, and then walked up the creaky stairs to Harry's room, where she found him sprawled across his bed.

Glancing upwards when he heard the door being opened, Harry looked up, and saw that as he had expected, it was Petunia at the door. Sitting up, he told her to come in, and she came and sat beside him on the bed.

"Hi," said Petunia with a smile, and a rather curious look. "Did you have a nice day then?"

"Yeah," enthused Harry with a wide grin. "Professor McGonagall came here and told me loads of stuff about wizards and the school I'm going to, and then we went to Hermione's house to pick her up, her parents aren't magical though, I think they call them muggles. We went to Diagon Alley, and it was great, it's like a wizarding town with loads of cool shops. I went to this bank that's run by goblins, and I got money that's in my vault, there's so much! Then, once we'd been to the bank we went to a wand shop that's run by a man called Ollivander, and I got a wand that has a phoenix feather in it. Then, we went to a pet shop, and at Hogwarts you can either have a cat, a rat, an owl, or a toad and me and Hermione both decided to get a cat. Then, we went and got loads of things for school, I got potions ingredients, a cauldron, a telescope and after that we went to Madame Malkin's to get our school uniform, where we met a boy called Draco, and he told us loads of stuff about school and the houses and the wizarding world. After that, we went to a place called The Leaky Cauldron for lunch, and, the last place we went to was a really cool huge bookshop, where we got our school books and I got some interesting looking books about the Potter family, and about the wizarding world's laws and customs."

Harry finished explaining and showing Aunt Petunia things, and then looked up at her rather apprehensively. She looked quite interested, and Harry wondered what she was going to say.

"It all sounds really intresting, Harry. It's certainly different to the school supplies you used to get," she said with a smile. "I know you said that you had a bit of money in your vault, but do you need any for other school supplies, or when you're at school?"

"No," said Harry, shaking his head. "There was loads of money in the vault, but it was only my trust vault, so it should see me through school, there's probably another vault. Am I allowed to keep it?"

"Of course," said Aunt Petunia. "It's your money, and it probably wouldn't do me much good to have wizards money anyway."

"Thanks," said Harry.

"Now, when are you going to school, I think your mother used to get a train of some sort," she asked.

Remembering what Professor McGonagall had told him just a few hours ago outside the house, he said "Well, Professor McGonagall gave me a ticket for a train on the 1st of September at Kings Cross, it leaves at 11am. She said that if you don't want to take me, she can arrange for someone to pick me up, so it's alright,"

"No," said Petunia with a frown. "I don't want you going to the train station by yourself or with someone you don't know. The first of September is the same day that Dudley is going to Smeltings, but Vernon's taking him so it should be fine."

"Thanks, Aunt Petunia-" he cut off, looking at the owl flying towards the closed window. _Oh dear._ Jumping up, he managed to open it just in time for the owl to fly through, it had a letter attached to it.

He handed it to Petunia after reading the short note, which consisted of one line, and was then signed with the initials _MM_.

Petunia looked up at him rather confusedly, "Why do you have to go to Mrs Figg's house?"

Harry simply shrugged, he didn't even know who MM was.

"Come on then, we'd better go," said Petunia, standing up.

A/N: Please vote on my poll! Can anyone guess why Harry has to go to Mrs Figg's? You have to have read the whole story to know.


	12. It's tomorrow!

It had been a long time since the trip to Diagon Alley with Draco, Hermione and Professor McGonagall, indeed, tomorrow Aunt Pe

It had been a long time since the trip to Diagon Alley with Draco, Hermione and Professor McGonagall, indeed, tomorrow Aunt Petunia would be taking him to the train station in London where he would catch the Hogwarts express to the school where he would learn magic. He couldn't wait.

Things had definitely changed. Aunt Petunia had started warming to him, but still didn't really favour him when Dudley and Vernon were there as Dudley and Vernon were still treating him the same as ever. Vernon had basically handed over all responsibility and care of Harry to Petunia, not caring at all what happened to Harry as long as he wasn't disturbed, or Dudley wasn't upset. His portions at meal times stated to increase, but of course not as much as Dudley's or Vernons's, any normal person couldn't eat the amount that they did.

Dudley and Vernon were out a lot going to wrestling matches and other things that Petunia and Harry wouldn't be interested in even if they had been invited. The day he had went to Diagon Alley, Professor McGonagall turned up at Mrs Figg's house with Harry's trunk, a model that included both shrinking and lightening charms. They discovered Mrs Figg to be a squib, and Petunia had talked to her a few times about Hogwarts, something Mrs Figg knew about as her only daughter had attended, although she had now finished and was well out into the wizarding world.

Hermione had been introduced to Petunia, as she had come round once, when Vernon and Dudley were out of the house. They had had a really good time, and they were equally excited about going to Hogwarts, discovering the wizarding world beyond Diagon Alley and learning magic. She had also called him a few times, and he had called her, but Uncle Vernon wasn't very keen on him using the phone.

He had also wanted to stay in touch with Draco, as they got on quite well at Diagon Alley and they wanted to be friends with each other but Draco had mentioned something about his father not liking Harry, but Harry didn't really understand the reason that Draco's father had for not liking a child he hadn't met. At least he would be seeing him tomorrow on the train to Hogwarts.

He heard a knock on his bedroom door, and was startled out of his thoughts.

"Come in," he said, and looked up to see Aunt Petunia entering his room. She sat down his bed beside him.

"All packed for tomorrow?" she asked, glancing at his trunk.

"Yep, I think so," he replied, hoping that he did indeed have everything, he couldn't exactly just come back for socks.

"Urm… have you got all of your books?" asked Aunt Petunia.

"Yep," said Harry after glancing into his trunk.

"Underwear, trousers, school uniform, shirts, enough clothes for nearly a year?"

"Yep,"

"Cat food?"

"Yeah,"

"Your wand?"

"Yes,"

"Toiletries?"

"Yeah,"

"Good," said Aunt Petunia, with a nod of the head, and left.. "If there's anything you really need, I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to contact me. Make sure you get a good nights sleep, I need you up by 7am at the latest, we've got a long drive ahead of us."

"Thanks, Aunt Petunia," said Harry, and followed her out of the door so that he could get ready for bed.


	13. They're leaving

After using the bathroom and getting changed into the dark green silk pyjamas that Aunt Petunia had bought for him a few days

After using the bathroom and getting changed into the dark green silk pyjamas that Aunt Petunia had bought for him a few days earlier, Harry settled down in bed with a book he had grabbed from his trunk, _A beginner's guide to transfiguration _told him the basics of that subject.

Hogwarts school books turned out to be very interesting, and Harry had read a few of his books, so that he would be prepared for Hogwarts, he didn't want to be caught out, especially if some of the other children had been practicing magic all of their lives. In a way though, he had. Professor McGonagall had informed him that some of the more unusual things he had done, which landing on the school roof and turning Mrs Figg's hair blue, to name a few, were actually accidental magic. A lot of children did this, and Harry couldn't help but wonder if the amount of accidental magic he had performed might have been different if it wasn't for living in a cupboard, or being bullied by Dudley.

When he had finished reading the introductory chapter, he decided that Transfiguration sounded like quite a useful subject, and it would also be quite interesting. Professor McGonagall had mention that as well as being the deputy headmistress and the head of one the houses, Gryffindor he thought, she was also the main transfiguration teacher, she seemed like she would be quite a good teacher.

Glancing at the clock, he realised that it had already reached ten pm, it was probably a good idea to go to sleep now as he had to be awake at seven am, to leave eight am, it was a good thing they lived where they did, if they lived a bit farther away, the might have had to take a whole day to get down to London.

Throwing the covers off, he grabbed his book and went to go and replace it in his trunk, while thinking about what a bad idea it had been to grab something from the bottom of the trunk the late on the night before he was going to leave. It wasn't that big when you looked at it, only looking as if it would fit a few books and a few changes of clothes, but one you opened it, the inside was huge, and all sorts of charms. There was a voice activated charm, when you said the name of the object it was instantly placed at the top of the pile of things, which made finding things a lot easier in the huge space, but you still couldn't really see what was in there, which was the problem. Of course, with all that stuff in a small place it was usually be really heavy, but that was the greatness of magic, as it had a very strong lightening charm on that wouldn't be running out any time soon.

Thanks to the magic, he had sorted out his trunk in a matter of minutes, then flicked the light off and jumped back into bed.

Really, he tried to get to sleep but he just couldn't. As if he was a little kid lying awake for their birthday, well he didn't but Dudley would, he tossed and turned for a few hours, feeling really excited about Hogwarts the following morning. Indeed, when Aunt Petunia came upstairs and looked in on him to see if he was asleep yet an hour or so after he had turned his light off, he had turned over, hoping she wouldn't guess he was still awake.

-&-

Somehow though, he must have gotten to sleep, because he found himself opening his eyes sometime in the morning, and hearing the loud beeping of Dudley's old alarm clock. Rays of sunlight were streaming in through the curtains that he hadn't drawn last night, and he squinted, half blind while looking for his glasses.

Finding them, he looked at the clock and was relieved to see that it was nearly 7am, so he was on time.

Suddenly, realization struck him, today was the day that he was going to Hogwarts!

With a big grin on his face, he leapt out of bed and got read in record time then grabbed his trunk and ran downstairs.

"Are you ready?" said Aunt Petunia, who had been ready for a while and was waiting in the living room

"Yep," said Harry with a nod, after he had grabbed a piece of toast.

"Good, lets go," said Petunia, and they headed out of the house.


	14. In The Car

Lightening charms were definitely a good thing, without them there was no way that Harry would have been able to carry his tru

Lightening charms were definitely a good thing, without them there was no way that Harry would have been able to carry his trunk the short distance from his room down the stairs, and definitely not outside to the car. Professor McGonagall certainly was thoughtful, he decided, as he muttered the voice activated shrinking charm on his trunk, and slid it into the pocket of his faded jeans.

Last week, at Aunt Petunia's suggestion and Harry's relief, Aunt Petunia had decided that it really was about time that she and Uncle Vernon stopped giving Harry Dudley's old clothes, instead of buying him new ones. When Vernon and Dudley had headed off to the specialist shop in London which sold clothes for boys going to Smeltings, at which Dudley had to get the largest size possible, Aunt Petunia had feigned a headache. She hadn't wanted to make up excuses about why she was buying Harry new clothes, as she knew that Vernon wouldn't agree as he always though that they should spend all of their money on Dudley and spend the bare minimum on Harry. It wasn't exactly like she would miss much anyway, it was only buying clothes, and when they arrived home, Dudley give her a full show of all of his school clothes. Harry had to stifle a laugh, and then duck out of the room, but she didn't think that Dudley looked bad.

Harry had seemed slightly confused when she had told him that she was going to be taking him out to replace his wardrobe, and she couldn't help but feel just a little guilty at that. A resolution to treat Harry better in the future was made. The resolution was of course followed through the same day, although they didn't travel all the way down to London, but they found the shops in Surrey to be perfectly fine for what they needed.

A full wardrobe was what they found that they needed, of the clothes that Harry owned there was only a pair of socks and a beaten up pair of trainers that still fitted him properly. They had had a relaxing and enjoyable day out and Harry was finally equipped with a full wardrobe of clothes that fitted him, as well as a new pair of glasses with stylish, even if they weren't designer, frames. Trainers, shoes, socks, underwear, t-shirts, jeans, trousers, jumpers, combat pants, jackets, he got them all.

To Harry at least, it was definitely a relief. Not just because he finally had clothes that fitted him, but also because he had been slightly concerned about what the other Hogwarts students would think of him. His robes had been packed as well, but he decided he would leave changing into them until the train, he might end up getting some funny looks at the train station if he didn't.

Also, Uncle Vernon definitely wouldn't have approved of Harry wearing wizarding robes in public, when Petunia had bought Harry the new clothes he really hadn't been too happy with how much money she had spent on Harry. Uncle Vernon didn't even know that Harry was magical and just thought that the school Harry's parents had put his name down for at birth was a Scottish Eton. Aunt Petunia had assured him that she would talk to him about it sometime in the next month, it wouldn't exactly be very easy to explain if Uncle Vernon saw the titles of some of his books. _Walks with a Werewolf_ wasn't a normal title for a schoolbook unless you were a wizard.

Harry was quite thankful that Dudley's school was much further away, up North near Newcastle as this mean that Uncle Vernon and Dudley had had to make a much earlier start. Avoiding confrontation was always better so earlier in the morning, as they had left before Harry had even started to wake up.

He stepped into the car with a smile, he was still quite thrilled that today was the day that he was going to Hogwarts. To be honest, even now when he had over a month to get used to it, it still seemed quite surreal.

"How are you feeling then," asked Petunia, revving up the engine of her silver Volvo.

"A bit tired, but other than that, I feel great," said Harry with a grin. "I still can't really believe it."

Aunt Petunia smiled wistfully as they drove off the driveway, and seemed deep in thought for some reason. It was at least a minute before she took a deep breath and said, "Your mother had similar feelings,"

Harry struggled to keep the shock from appearing on his face, this was the first thing that his Aunt had said about his mother in a long, long time. It was nice though, he didn't know much about his parents and he enjoyed finding out about them. Maybe when he got to Hogwarts, there would be someone willing to divulge some stories, from what he had gathered, his parents were top students at Hogwarts so surely a teacher might be able to tell him something.

He settled for a grateful smile, and there was a companionable silence for a few minutes, with only the noise of the road rushing by to disturb their thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, he asked "What was she like?"

Aunt Petunia tried to look confused, this was not a subject she was comfortable talking about – "Who?"

"My mother," replied Harry.

Petunia racked her brains, what could she say? A question like this had so many answers, so she decided to go for a simple but honest one.

"She was a wonderful sister. She loved magic, but in the end though, that is what pulled us apart, we used to be best friends when we were little. She was kind and always happy. I don't really have that many memories of her, we didn't speak too much after she got accepted into Hogwarts. Maybe you could ask one of your teachers, there might still be some there that taught your parents. I'll have a look when I get home to see if Lily left any photos or diaries. They'll be in the loft and forgotten about, if there are any then I'll try to get them to you,"

Harry nodded, this was much better than what he was used to.

Aunt Petunia then changed the subject. "So, that Hermione girl seems nice,"

"She is," said Harry, nodding his agreement. "I'm going to meet her on the train so we can sit next to each other, we've both been reading the school books so that we're prepared, I guess we'll be able to discuss what we think of them. The other person I met at Diagon Alley, Draco Malfoy, said that he couldn't talk to me during the summer because his father wouldn't approve, and he couldn't talk to Hermione because his father didn't like him to associate with 'mudbloods',"

Aunt Petunia drew in a breath at the word 'mudblood', this had been what had started the war that got her sister killed. If it hadn't been for that stupid wizarding blood purity thing, then none of the tragedies would have occurred. Her own parents had been a victim of death eaters as well, not because they were related to Lily, but just simply because they were muggles.

"Mudblood isn't a word you should be using," she said, trying to sound stern.

"Oh, I know, it's just what Draco said. He said that his father uses the word all the time," replied Harry.

"It's very insulting though. I'm not sure if this Draco is a good person to be friends with," she suggested.

Harry nodded, "Maybe not, I don't really know him yet though. I think he just follows his father,"

"I knew a few people like that," replied Aunt Petunia.

Changing the subject again and looking out window, Harry asked an inevitable question, "How much longer till we get there?"

Petunia glanced out the window at the signs rushing past, and at the clock.

"We should be there in about twenty minutes," she answered.

"Great," enthused Harry.

Twenty minutes seemed to fly by, and before he knew it, Aunt Petunia was pulling into a parking space at the car park of Kings Cross Station. They had arrived.

"Well, looks like we're here," said Aunt Petunia. "Need any help with your cat?"

"No thanks, I can manage," said Harry, getting out of the car and shutting the door.

They walked up to the entrance in silence, neither knew what to say.

They walked over to the sign which said Platform nine.

"Well, goodbye," said Harry, and Daisy gave her a goodbye meow.

"Urm," said Aunt Petunia, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Bye, I'll see you next year."

She walked away, and Harry took that as his cue to enter the platform. Remembering what McGonagall had told him, he took a deep breath and walked straight through the wall that connected platforms nine and ten.


	15. Should be Uneventful

A/N: Sorry this hasn't been updated in a while, I've been working on my many other projects, as well as a vast amount of homework and of course life. You might have noticed the poll on my profile page to do with pairings for this story, if the one you want isn't on then you can leave it in a review or PM me. For example, I have just thought of Draco/Fleur! Any thoughts on which houses characters should be in (except Harry, Hermione, Draco), please tell me in a review or PM. Unfortunately, I also can't remember any Ravenclaws except Luna, so I shall have to be doing a bit of research today. Anyway, on with the story…

Harry walked straight into the wall, preparing himself for the oncoming pain. Knowing that this should work didn't help at all, he had been raised in a world of logic where you definitely wouldn't walk through walls to get to other worlds. Therefore, he was pleasantly surprised when, after walking straight at the wall, he found himself staring at a steaming crimson train with the words _Hogwarts Express_ painted on it.

Harry let out a grin, he _loved _magic. Not quite sure what to do, he stood there staring at the train and thinking for a few moments before someone squealed very loudly in his ear, making him wince, and wrapped their arms around him.

Eyes widening, he realised it was Hermione and greeted her.

"Hi!" he said, grinning. "It's been a while."

"Yep, I don't know how I survived the week without you" Hermione laughed, with a hint of sarcasm.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" said Harry.

"Get on the train," replied Hermione, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay then," said Harry. "Where are your parents?"

"Muggles can't get through the barrier, I thought you knew that my parents were muggles,"

"I did, just I didn't know they couldn't get through the barrier,"

"Oh, okay," said Hermione, nodding. "I guess we better get on the train."

Bending down, she picked up the oak trunk sitting at her feet, struggling to lift it. Harry saw her difficulties, and grabbed a handle from her, feeling just how heavy it actually was.

"I was fine," protested Hermione.

"Yes, okay then," replied Harry.

"Where's your trunk anyway?" asked Hermione suspiciously.

"Oh, Professor McGonagall put a lightening and voice activated shrinking charm on it, its in my pocket," replied Harry.

"I must figure out how to do that when we get to school, it would be so useful! I don't see why Professor McGonagall did it on yours and not mine though, you should have told me when I was at your house one of the times so that I could research it and do it myself,"

Hermione's expression suddenly turned confused – "I thought that underage magic was against the law,"

"Well, Professor McGonagall performed the charms for me, so of course it didn't count and even if I did do an underage magic, it doesn't count until after we've started at Hogwarts. If I knew the spell, I would do it for you. Perhaps you could find someone and ask them to do a lightening charm for you?"

"Okay, good idea," replied Hermione, looking around the platform for anyone halfway normal looking.

"How about them?" asked Harry, pointing to a mother and daughter.

"Oh, okay," said Hermione, walking over.

"Hello, dear," said the woman. "I'm Amanda Bones."

"Hello, I'm Hermione Granger,"

"Harry Potter," said Harry. "My friend was wondering if you could do a lightening charm on her trunk please."

"Oh, of course. This is my daughter Susan by the way,"

Amanda muttered a quick incantation, and, the trunk instantly lightened so they could no longer feel the weight, meanwhile, Harry and Hermione were introducing themselves to Susan.

"Thanks," grinned Hermione, as Amanda handed the now light trunk back to her.

"I guess we better get on the train, Harry," pointed out Hermione.

They both said goodbye to and once more thanked the Bones' before walking off in the direction of the train, and walking onto the train via the first compartment they came to. It turned out to be full, so they continued heading through the train until they saw Draco sitting by himself in a compartment looking rather lonely.

He instantly perked up when he saw Harry and Hermione entering the compartment though.

"So I guess its okay to sit her then?" asked Hermione, making sure it was alright.

"Of course," said Draco, rolling his eyes and moving along. Patting the empty space next to him, he gestured for them to sit down.

They did so, putting their trunks on the unoccupied floor space after Harry had unshrunk his.

Draco grinned at this, "I've got that on my trunk as well, its so useful,"

"I'm going to try and learn the spell, I think it would be very useful. Do you know what book its in?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, I've got it here," replied Draco.

As Draco started looking through his trunk for the book in question, they all settled down for what they assumed would be an eventless train ride…


	16. Minimio

**As Draco started looking through his trunk for the book in question, they all settled down for what they assumed would be an eventless train ride…**

**  
**"Here it is," said Draco, pulling his head out of his trunk with a book in his hand before he tossed it over to Hermione. The standard book of spells, grade two by Miranda Goshawk was written across the front and spine of the thick leather bound book in beautiful black calligraphy.

"Grade two?" asked Harry. "How have you got that? We only need the grade one book for this year, grade two must be next year."

"Oh," replied Draco who started to explain. "Well, my father wants me to do as well as I can, he says I have to make the Malfoy name proud so he got me all of these extra books, there's a few from our private library too."

"You have a private library?" echoed Hermione looking up from her book with awe in her eyes.

"Well, yeah," said Draco in a _duh_ tone. "All of the most noble pureblood families like ours have private libraries, from years ago. My house is a mansion after all."

"You must be so rich," pointed out Harry.

"Probably just the same amount as you," replied Draco.

"You've got all your properties as well though," argued Hermione.

Draco unsuccessfully attempted to stifle a snort, then raised an eyebrow "Do you two know anything?" asked Draco, appalled at their lack of knowledge, particularly Harry's.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione, feeling rather dumb for one of the first times.

"Well since Harry's a potter and of course the last of his line he will be rich, rich enough to live comfortably without working a day in his life, he'll also inherit all of the properties, I remember that the Potters has at least five, but you would have to check in Gringotts," explained Draco.

"Hmm. I didn't think there was quite that much in my vault," said Harry.

Hermione adopted a thoughtful look, and then pointed out "But wasn't that your trust vault we went to? I suppose you might have more really,"

"Of course you would," explained Draco. "There's a few others, just you wont be able to access them until you're eighteen."

"Wow, I don't know any of this, I really need to get started reading those books on wizard customs," said Harry.

Hermione finally looked up from the book with a triumphant grin, "I think I've got it, anyone want to volunteer anything for me to practice on?"

Draco sighed and handed over his robes from the bottom of his trunk, a huge, billowing piece of black fabric and told her to be careful.

The look on Hermione's face showed she clearly wasn't impressed; although she had only been a witch for a matter of days, everything else in her life had come easily to her, and this would too. Well, hopefully. Picking up her wand from the empty seat next to her, she cleared her throat and pointed at Draco's wand, "_Minimio," _

Unsuprisingly, her first attempt at the second year spell wasn't successful.

"It's a second year spell, Hermione I'm sure you wouldn't get it first try when we haven't even started first year yet," encouraged Harry, and the tears that were forming in Hermione's eyes stopped – she hated failure.

"Why don't you try it again?" asked Draco.

"Okay," said Hermione, mustering up her strength and a smile. Once more she pointed her wand and muttered the incantation. Harry couldn't help but notice that the spell certainly had more confidence this time.

it seemed that for Hermione, confidence was most definitely the trick as this time, sparks flew from her wand as the robe began to rapidly contract and decrease in size, sparks crackled that could only remind Harry of faulty electricity. When the magic had finished, the robe could fit in Harry's hand.

"Oh, well done Hermione. You must be really talented to managed a second year spell already," grinned Draco before seeing a problem. "Urm, can you reverse that?"

Harry laughed which caused a glare from Hermione, and a sudden look of panic to spread across Hermione's face. "Oh dear, we didn't think very far ahead,"

"Nope," agreed Draco. "I would say its quite stupid to try out a shrinking spell when we don't know an enlargement spell."

"But wont it be in the book?" wondered Harry.

"Well, I don't think that they actually teach that spell until 3rd year, but we can have a look," replied Draco.

Hermione laughed, "How stupid, they should just teach it at the same time,"

"Then we wouldn't have things like this happening," pointed out Draco while rolling his eyes.

"Nope," said Hermione after checking the index. "The spell isn't in here, I think that you'll just have to go without your robe. Why's it so important anyway?"

"Yeah, did you only bring one?" asked Harry.

A flash of anger momentarily flashed across Draco's face. "Of course I brought more than one robe, I am a Malfoy! Why wouldn't I bring more than one?"

Hermione gave him a strange look but ignored him, "Okay I was just asking,"

Maybe Draco wasn't who she thought he was, she had thought that he was nice enough but he was acting so hostile now. After all, she couldn't exactly say that she knew him very well when she had only met him a month or so ago. Hermione had never had any friends until she met Harry and Draco, when she was in primary school she used to be an outcast because of her love for knowledge and reading. She had hoped that it would change when she came to Hogwarts, but maybe it wouldn't.

Meanwhile Draco had rather mixed emotions, he couldn't help but regret how he had reacted to Hermione, even if she was a mudblood. Wait though, that was the whole reason he was so confused. Ever since he could remember his father had always installed a certain set of values in him, a set of values that would help him to become the right sort of person to be the Malfoy family heir. The most important thing that his father had always stressed, something that his father wholeheartedly believed in himself, fanatically even was blood purity. Purebloods like Draco especially if you were from an older pureblood family were supposed to be much better, superior and far more intelligent. Muggleborns, the people who had been born to non magical parents, or mudbloods as his father would always call them were supposed to be inferior, looked down upon, for as long as down upon Draco had known that they weren't as good as purebloods. They were also supposed to be much less intelligent, and there were even rumours going around that muggleborns stole their magic from pureblooded witches and wizards. It had been what he had known for so long, but there was no real reasoning behind it. He couldn't help but doubt it, however when he tried to bring it up his father always would get very angry. Draco needed to make his own decisions, maybe muggleborns were okay as Hermione has shown. There was no question of her having lesser intelligence or skill either since Hogwarts would be the idea place to find out what was really the truth…


	17. Enter Ron

They sat in silence for another few minutes, Hermione continuing to scan through the book while Harry and Draco stared out of the window as the scenery rushed by. It seemed like an unbreakable tension was mounting up in the room and all three of the Hogwarts students desperately wished to break it, it was becoming unbearable.

"Ever heard the expression you could cut the tension in the room with a knife?" asked Harry, trying to make a joke to lighten up the mood of the compartment. "Well, you could probably cut this tension with a spoon."

The silence continued but he could clearly see Hermione's mouth twitching upwards and Draco had a gleam in his eye. After a few seconds they both gave in to the unwinnable battle and burst out laughing.

"You do realise that makes no sense?" asked Hermione through a laugh.

"Yeah, that was kind of the point," decided Harry with a grin.

There was then a knock on the door, and Draco's face fell, maybe it was someone who would report back to his father about who he was associating with, although Draco enjoyed being with his friends, he had no doubt that his father would be less than happy with him befriending a muggleborn and the boy who lived. He would certainly have to come up with a good reason for this, one that his father would find okay.

Thankfully though, when it did open it was not one of those Slytherins that would report to his father, it was instead the trolley lady. That was alright. There were all sorts of food on the trolley, both the average food that both wizard and muggle would enjoy and also the more interesting food that Harry and Hermione would have probably never tried. Seeing it all made him realise how hungry he was, he had been too excited to eat breakfast and his mother knew better than to make him.

"Hello, do you want anything from the trolley?" asked the old lady.

Harry jumped at the chance to try out some new wizarding food, and once more spend his newly acquired fortune, he had also suddenly realised how hungry he was.

Hermione was looking slightly worried, and explained – "My parents are dentists, they don't want me eating any sugar incase it ruins my teeth,"

"Oh right," said Harry at the same time as Draco asked what dentists were.

The trolley lady tapped her foot and clearly looked rather impatient, so Harry mumbled an apology and pulled a few coins out of his bag, and bought just about everything on the trolley.

"You didn't have to that, she would have waited for you, especially since you're Harry Potter," argued Draco.

"Urm… well we've got our food now," attempted Harry.

Draco just decided to ignore Harry, he could learn about the potential power that he held another time and then he turned to Hermione. "So, what are dentists then?"

"They're people who look after your teeth, it must just be a muggle thing I suppose. Just like doctors, only they have a more specific purpose," explained Hermione.

"Oh," said Draco. "Never heard of them before, we always just have the mediwizards and healers fix our teeth, so does everyone. I'd never really thought you would have a whole job just for looking after teeth."

"Well, my parents do," shrugged Hermione. "They get paid quite a bit too."

"Anyway, Harry I've been wanting to know something really important," said Draco then added in a dramatic pause. "Who do you live with?"

"My Aunt and Uncle, why?" mumbled Harry.

"I didn't know that you had any relatives," replied Draco.

"Well, why would you?" asked Hermione.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Do you not realise how utterly famous Harry is? Everything there is to know about him will have been written in the newspaper after he defeated Voldemort, but for the last few years no one has known anything about you. You've been a great mystery and everyone wants to know everything. I think that he must probably be the most famous wizard in the wizarding world, with the exception of the Dark Lord or Dumbledore,"

"How did I go this long without knowing all of this?" asked Harry, bemusedly.

"No idea," replied Draco, about to say something else but he was cut off when the compartment door blew open. A tall, ginger boy covered in freckles entered the room with a scowl on his face.

"I've heard that Harry Potter's on this train, any of you know anything about it?" asked the boy, who seemed to deliberately avoid Draco's eyes, as if he already knew him.

A look of realisation and then a sneer passed across Draco's face. "I know who you are. Red hair, freckles and more brothers than your parents can afford. You must be a Weasley,"

A look of indignation passed across the boy's face and Harry shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, but still Draco continued. "What have you got to do with Harry Potter anyway, its obvious you're only looking for him because of his fame."

Ron's ears had turned bright red and his face wasn't a pretty picture, "The names Ron Weasley actually, and at least my father isn't a death eater murderer!"

"Get out," snarled Draco while Hermione and Harry looked on in silence, slightly confused.

Ron decided not to anger Draco Malfoy further, his father had told him all sorts of thigns about Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father. Apparently he had been a death eater, and murdered and tortured hundreds of people, knowing lots of dark arts, his father had hinted that Draco was going to be the same after spending so long with his father. Ron didn't want to get any first hand experience of the dark arts his first day of school, it would be just his luck that Draco Malfoy would choose him to be his first cruciatus victim.

Walking out the door he turned round and did a double take after glancing a lightning bolt scar. Wait, it couldn't be. Or could it? surely Harry Potter wouldn't associate with Draco Malfoy. Unless he didn't know the serious risks involved in the dangerous friendship.

"Hey, aren't you…?" started Ron before the door slammed in his face.

How rude. Why Harry Potter was with him, Ron didn't know but he would have to confront him about it some time when he wasn't with Malfoy. That was okay though, clearly Harry Potter would be sorted into Gryffindor and Malfoy into Slytherin. How much more obvious could you get? Even Ron knew that.


	18. Arrived

"Okay, what was that all about?" asked Harry.

"What do you mean?" asked Draco.

"Well, you seemed to know who that person was and you seemed to hate him as well," pointed out Hermione.

"That's because our families have been enemies for centuries, I woudnt want to be seen with a Weasley and most people know that really. Well, most people who have grown up in the wizarding world, you'll know all of this eventually. You don't want everyone knowing that you're here either Harry, they'll all come along to stare at you and it's just because of your fame as well. Really you may as well just wait until we get to school to let everyone know that you're here," explained Draco.

"Oh, thanks," said Harry, perfectly content to let it stay at that.

"Hold on," said Hermione, the cogs in her brain whirring around. "I'm sure I read about death eaters somewhere, aren't they Voldemort's followers?"

Oh no. Harry and Hermione couldn't find out this early in their friendship, their was certainly a reason why his family hated the Weasleys, and this had just added to it. When people first met him, they always judged him on his father; either looking down on him and seeing him as the next dark lord or sucking up to him because they wanted him to become the next dark lord. Although it led to a good lifestyle, he didn't just want to be known because of his father. No doubt they wouldn't understand either, he didn't expect them to, after all Harry's parents were killed by Voldemort, whos followers were death eaters. Even if no one had believed it, Draco had always been taught that his father was innocent, and that was the message he was going to spread. Yet he didn't believe it.

"Oh no," said Draco. "My father was framed, he's not too keen on muggleborns and he still believes that purebloods are superior but of course he would never be a death eater. He was proven to be innocent anyway."

"Oh okay then, that makes sense," replied Hermione with a nod.

"Anyways, shall we eat?" asked Harry. "That Weasley distracted us from our food."

"Oh yes," said Hermione, ignoring the sugar and fat for the moment and reaching for a pumpkin pasty, a few chocolate frogs and a bottle of forever fizzy lemonade. Under that smile there was so much more. Hermione had definitely read about death eaters, they hated muggleborns and when they went on raids they would kill and torture them. What was she doing becoming friends with someone whose father was suspected of being a death eater? Supposedly he was innocent though, she would have to do some research of her own, some subtle research when Draco wasn't there.

Draco reached for an armful of food and started eating, it had been a rather stressful train ride really instead of just the simple journey that he had been expecting.

They sat back and relaxed for another few hours, eating, reading and talking while watching the scenery rush by. Hermione glanced down at her watch and decided that it was probably time to get changed into her robes, they had been told when they would be arriving at Hogwarts and that time was quickly approaching.

"I suppose its probably time to get our robes on now, I'll go to the bathroom," said Hermione, standing up with her clothes in her arms and pushing the door open before disappearing down the corridor.

Harry had been snoozing off slightly and woke with a start when the door slammed shut.

"Come on, we better hurry up," said Draco, rising and rifling through his trunk for his Hogwarts robes before changing in to them as Harry did too.

Hermione appeared back at the door now in her Hogwarts robes. "The driver says that we'll be there in about five minutes,"

Draco looked over the compartment; wrappers and crumbs lay all over the floor, there were a couple of books on the tables and things from their trunks also lay in the compartment. "I suppose we better get our stuff sorted out,"

Only just when they had finally pulled Hermione's guide to cats (their cats had been sent ahead, McGonagall had told them that although many people didn't choose to, your pets could be sent to school) from under the seat did the train slow to a halt. "Perfect timing,"

"Please leave all your luggage on the train, it will be taken ahead to the school for you," came the voice on the loudspeaker.

The doors then opened and Hermione, Harry and Draco headed out of the train and onto Hogsmeade platform.

"So where are we supposed to go then?" asked Harry as they stood there with the hundreds of other students.

"I think you've got your answer over there," replied Hermione pointing to a large almost giant like man who was shouting 'First years, first years over here,'

They headed over in that direction and discovered that the first years were to ride on boats across the lake to get to the castle, four to a boat. Hermione, Harry and Draco took one, wondering who their fourth would be.

Their question was answered when a girl introducing herself as Pansy Parkinson sat down. Draco groaned…


End file.
